Synthesis of powdered carbon composite nanomaterials by thermal decomposition of Fe(III) aromatic carboxylates

The article discusses the principal methods for obtaining carbon composite nanomaterials and highlights the thermolysis method as one of them. In order to understand the essence of thermal decomposition processes as a method for synthesis of carbon nanomaterials, aromatic iron(III) carboxylates have been considered. These are iron(III) 8-hydroxyquinolinate, benzoate, salicylate, phthalate, and p-aminobenzoate. The article discusses the procedure for the synthesis of these iron(III) carboxylates under standard conditions in detail. The thermal decomposition process was carried out in two media (air as oxidizing one and argon as neutral one) to compare the obtained products. For a detailed study of the processes of decomposition of iron(III) carboxylates, the thermal analysis methods (TG and DSC) were used on a Netzsch 449 Jupiter synchronous thermal analyzer. In order to study the morphology and composition of the products, X-ray phase analysis, optical and scanning electron microscopy, as well as X-ray fluorescence microanalysis were used. We used a Rigaku Ultima IV X-ray diffractometer and a scanning electron microscope with a Jeol JSM-7001F elemental microanalysis attachment. Based on the obtained results, the expected formulas of the initial iron(III) carboxylates were calculated. The mechanisms of the processes occurring during the thermal decomposition of iron(III) aromatic carboxylates were also proposed. For a more accurate determination of the composition of the synthesized iron(III) carboxylates and a more appropriate description of the processes of thermal decomposition of these salts, the corresponding aromatic carboxylic acids were also subjected to thermal decomposition. The appendix to the article contains the data for a more accurate interpretation of the results and a more detailed description of the thermal decomposition processes.