Effects of pretreatment for micron glass on its nano-Fe3O4 coating layer

To prepare pearlyescent pigment of micron glass/nano-Fe3O4 by co-precipitation method, the micron dimension glass as substrate must be eroded by sodium hydroxide solution and hydrofluoric acid for appropriate time so as to obtain more “growing points” for “crystal seed point” of Fe3O4. The effects of eroding time of sodium hydroxide solution, eroding time of hydrofluoric acid and the reaction temperature on coating layer of micron glass/nano-Fe3O4 were investigated. The results showed when the micro glass as a substrate would be eroded by 0.5 mol/L sodium hydroxide solution for 20 min and then by 0.1 mol/L hydrofluoric acid for 8 min, the Fe3O4 coated layer displays uniform tightly packed nano-scales granular shape, the particle size can be estimated ≈30 nm. The samples were characterized by XRD, HRSEM, XPS, VSM, FT-IR and color measurement.