Solvothermal synthesis of porous Fe3O4 nanoparticles for humidity sensor application

In this research, the effect of PVP on magnetic properties and morphology of Fe3O4 nanoparticle (Fe3O4-NPS) is investigated. Also, the sensitivity of the humidity of the selected Fe3O4-NPS is studied. X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscope (TEM), and vibration sample magnetometer (VSM) were used to characterize the synthesized Fe3O4-NPs. The XRD and TEM results demonstrated that Fe3O4-NPs were crystallized in cubic structure with spherical pores morphology. Superparamagnetic behavior was seen in the samples prepared with the maximum saturation of approximately 10 emu g(-1) for the sample synthesized using PVP:Fe(ac ac)(3) ratio equal to 4. The outcomes of the humidity sensing of the selected sample revealed that the prepared Fe3O4-NPs with a porous structure is a good candidate to be used for humidity sensing.