Synthesis and characterization of Magnetic Fe₃O₄/SiO₂ composite for Environmental Sanitation

Abstract The synthesis and characterization of the Fe3O4/SiO2 composite using the co-precipitation method have been conducted. Magnetite (Fe3O4) possesses magnetic properties capable of removing catalyst and dye waste. Silica is excellently suited as a material for magnetic coatings. The Fe3O4/SiO2 composite was characterized using XRD to identify the crystal phase and lattice structure parameters. Morphological analysis and elemental mapping of the sample were carried out using SEM-EDS, and FTIR was used to identify the functional groups. The XRD characterization results show that the Fe3O4/SiO2 composite crystallizes well, with identified peaks at angles of 2θ = 30.18°; 36.86°; 43.14°; 53.52°; 57.08°. The FTIR test results indicate the presence of SI-O-Si bonds, characteristic of the SiO2 peak, and Fe-O bonds, which are indicative of Fe3O4. The homogeneous morphologies are demonstrated by the SEM-EDS image.