Facile Synthesis and Characterization of Magnetite Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles from Local Iron Sand

This study aimed to synthesize magnetite mesoporous silica nanoparticles using local iron sand obtained from natural resources as magnetite core. The process was carried out in four stages, namely synthesis of magnetite nanoparticles, coating with silica, surfactant templating, silica incorporation, and surfactant removal. The particles were characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy-Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Particle Size Analyzer (PSA), Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM), Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET). The results showed that magnetite mesoporous silica nanoparticles with a 2 g concentration of CTAB contained Fe3O4 and SiO2 compounds, without the chemical bonds related to CTAB. This material showed a smaller particle size distribution of 698.0 nm and a larger saturation magnetization value of 4.76 emu/g, with paramagnetic properties. Furthermore, the surface area, average pore diameter, and volume were 912.950 m²/g, 3.0706 nm (mesoporous), and 0.83 cm³/g, respectively. These magnetite mesoporous silica nanoparticles showed potential for application as hyperthermia agents and drug carriers to specific locations. © (2025), (International Journal of Technology). All rights reserved.