Synthesis and Thermal Transformations of Iron(III) Methacrylate—a Precursor of Iron-Containing Nanocomposites

Abstract

Iron(III) methacrylate was synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis and IR spectroscopy. The mechanism of thermal decomposition of iron(III) methacrylate was studied using differential scanning calorimetry combined with a mass spectrometer in a nitrogen environment. Experimental and statistical mathematical models of the thermolysis of iron(III) methacrylate were obtained, relating a number of response functions (carbon and hydrogen concentrations in the nanocomposite, content of hematite phases, α-Fe, average diameter of nanoparticles (according to X-ray diffraction data), saturation magnetization, residual magnetization, coercivity) with temperature and time of the thermolysis process. Response surfaces were constructed to illustrate the dependence of the listed response functions on temperature and time of thermolysis. As a result of the analysis of the obtained response surfaces, the conditions for the synthesis of a nanocomposite with specified characteristics, in particular with a higher content of the ferromagnetic α-Fe phase, were determined.