Silica-decorated
ferrite nanoparticles, a new kind, coated with
ceric ammonium nitrate (CAN), have been prepared successfully by simple
coprecipitation techniques. Powder X-ray diffraction spectroscopy
(PXRD), Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), field emission-scanning
electron microscope (FE-SEM), wavelength-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy
(WDX), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), inductive coupled plasma-optical
emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA)
techniques were used to characterize these nanoparticles. The catalysts
are further studied for catalytic activity in solvent-free conditions.
Importantly, these nanoparticles have been collected from the reaction
mixture using an external magnet and recycled up to minimum of 15
cycles with no substantial loss of catalytic characteristics.