Microwave-Assisted Fabrication of ? -Fe2O3 Nanoparticles from Tris(acetylacetonato) Iron (III)

Maghemite (? -Fe O ) nanoparticles which have a wide range of applications were fabricated by microwave heating of acetylacetonato iron (III) precursor. The precursor is very easy to make, and on irradiation by microwave decomposes to maghemite nanoparticles. The asprepar ed ? -Fe 2 3 O nanostructured has been characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM)) techniques. The maghemite nanoparticles were obtained in high yield and purity and the average size of the particles was estimated to be about 13 nm.