THE INFLUENCE OF CARBOXYLATE IONS ON THE GROWTH OF BETA-FEOOH PARTICLES

Colloidal beta-FeOOH particles were produced by hydrolysis of FeCl3 solutions doped with varied amounts of formate, lactate, oxalate, tartarate, pyromellitate and EDTA ions at 100-degrees-C. The resulting particles were characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, thermogravimetric-differential thermal analysis, Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy, elemental analysis, and the adsorption of nitrogen and water. With increasing concentration of added carboxylate ions, the mean modal size of the particles formed increased at low concentrations and decreased after passing the maximum. The crystallite sizes also revealed a maximum on adding EDTA, oxalate and lactate ions, while they monotonically decreased with the addition of other ions. Doping with tartarate and pyromellitate ions by more than 7 and 10 mol %, respectively, produced amorphous particles containing a large amount of these ions. The particles formed with 20 mol % tartarate ions adsorbed water selectively.