Structural study of Fe/SiO2, Fe-Ni/SiO2 and Fe-Co/SiO2 nanocomposites

Abstract

The present work examines Fe, Fe-Ni and Fe-Co nanocomposites supported on silica, prepared by impregnation, followed by calcination and thermal H2- treatment. Several techniques, such as SEM and XRD are used for the characterization of the samples at different steps of their elaboration. After impregnation, the X-rays diffraction reveals the formation of iron, nickel and cobalt silicide (FeSi2, FeNiSi, FeCoSi). After calcination, the XRD pattern present the features of iron, nickel and cobalt oxides (Fe2O3, Fe2NiO4, FeCoO4) with an average size of 10-15nm.