The influence of co-precipitation and green synthesis of ginger, onion and lemon on the properties of iron oxide nanoparticles

Abstract

Iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) were synthesized by two different methods, coprecipitation and green synthesis. Onion, lemon and ginger extracts were used as the natural reducing agent in the green synthesis of IONPs whereas sodium hydroxide was used as reducing agent in the co-precipitation of IONPs. The synthesised IONPs was characterized by using X-Ray Diffractometer (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Ultraviolet Visible Spectroscopy (UV-Vis). Iron oxide nanorods (IONPs), needle-like structure and spherical structure were observed in the SEM images. By using ginger extract as reducing agent, IONRs had the smallest average diameter of 34.35nm.The existence of maghemite, magnetite and hematite of IONPs were confirmed by XRD analysis. Furthermore, IONRs synthesised using ginger extract had the smallest energy band gap. Polyphenols and flavonoids are vital in the green synthesis of IONPs and its existence was proved in the UV-Vis spectra. The band gap energy of each synthesised IONPs had range from 0.75 eV to 1.62 eV.