Abstract

Fe-Mn bimetal oxide nanocomposite was synthesized by a new aeration co-precipitation method. For this purpose, the Fe3+ and Mn3+ in a molar ratio of 2:1 were simultaneously precipitated in the presence of excess oxygen. The physicochemical, structural and optical properties of the synthesized nanocomposite were investigated by Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), Brunauer-Emmet-Teller (BET), and UV-Visible analysis. The FESEM images showed that the synthesized nanocomposite had a dominant spheroid-like shape and homogeneous morphological structure with many aggregated nanocomposite and rough surfaces. The average size of synthesized nanocomposite was 13.75 nm with a range of 10.33-17.48 nm. The EDX analysis confirmed the presence of Fe (25.23 wt) and Mn (21.55 wt) in the nanocomposite. The XRF analysis showed that the Fe-Mn nanocomposite contained 49.83 Fe2O3 and 29.36 Mn2O3. The XRD analysis confirmed that the nano composite had two peaks at 32.9 degrees and 36.5 degrees, which were respectively related to Mn2O3 and Fe2O3. UV-Vis absorption peaks of Fe-Mn nanocomposite was between 358 and 369 nm and the band gap energy was 2.06 eV. The BET specific surface area and pore volume of the nonocomposite were 244.79 m(2)/g and 0.6633 cm(3)/g, respectively. So, considering the spherical, uniform, and mesoporous structure with large surface area and pure volume, the aeration-co-precipitation, as an appropriate synthesis method, is suitable to synthesize Fe-Mn bimetal nanocomposite that can be widely used as a catalyst in photocatalytic oxidation or can be applied as a nano-adsorbent to remove pollutants from the contaminated water.