Solvothermal synthesis of porous Fe3O4 nanoparticles for humidity sensor application

Abstract

In this research, the effect of PVP on magnetic properties and morphology of Fe _3 O _4 nanoparticle (Fe _3 O _4 -NP _S ) is investigated. Also, the sensitivity of the humidity of the selected Fe _3 O _4 -NP _S is studied. X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscope (TEM), and vibration sample magnetometer (VSM) were used to characterize the synthesized Fe _3 O _4 -NPs. The XRD and TEM results demonstrated that Fe _3 O _4 -NPs were crystallized in cubic structure with spherical pores morphology. Superparamagnetic behavior was seen in the samples prepared with the maximum saturation of approximately 10 emu g ^−1 for the sample synthesized using PVP:Fe(ac ac) _3 ratio equal to 4. The outcomes of the humidity sensing of the selected sample revealed that the prepared Fe _3 O _4 -NPs with a porous structure is a good candidate to be used for humidity sensing.

Keywords

• Fe3O4 nanoparticles
• solvothermal
• magnetic
• iron oxide