Fatma Tugce Senberber

Characterization and Thermal Dehydration Kinetics of Highly Crystalline Mcallisterite, Synthesized at Low Temperatures

The hydrothermal synthesis of a mcallisterite (Mg2(B6O7(OH)6)2·9(H2O)) mineral at low temperatures was characterized. For this purpose, several reaction temperatures (0–70°C) and reaction times (30–240 min) were studied. Synthesized minerals were subjected to X-ray diffraction (XRD), fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), and Raman spectroscopies and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Additionally, experimental analyses of boron trioxide (B2O3) content and reaction yields were performed. Furthermore, thermal gravimetry and differential thermal analysis (TG/DTA) were used for the determination of thermal dehydration kinetics. According to the XRD results, mcallisterite, which has a powder diffraction file (pdf) number of “01-070-1902,” was formed under certain reaction parameters. Pure crystalline mcallisterite had diagnostic FT-IR and Raman vibration peaks and according to the SEM analysis, for the minerals which were synthesized at 60°C and 30 min of reaction time, particle size was between 398.30 and 700.06 nm. Its B2O3 content and reaction yield were 50.80 ± 1.12% and 85.80 ± 0.61%, respectively. Finally, average activation energies (conversion values (α) that were selected between 0.1 and 0.6) were calculated as 100.40 kJ/mol and 98.31 kJ/mol according to Ozawa and Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose (KAS) methods, respectively.

Characterization and physical properties of hydrated zinc borates synthesized from sodium borates

Abstract In this study, Zn3B6O12·3.5H2O, a type of a zinc borate hydrate, was synthesized from the sodium borate mineral Na2B4O7·5H2O. Two different zinc sources, i.e. ZnSO4·7H2O and ZnCl2, were used in the hydrothermal synthesis. Products were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and Raman spectroscopy. Product morphologies were studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Then optical absorption characteristics and electrical properties were investigated. Based on these results, Zn3B6O12·3.5H2O was obtained under many synthetic conditions as a single phase with high reaction efficiencies and sub-micrometer (100 nm to 1 μm) particle sizes. The electrical resistivity and optical energy gap were found as 8.8×1010 Ω cm and 4.13 eV, respectively. The novelty obtained in this study is the synthesis of zinc borate hydrate compound with high crystallinity without using any modification agent or organic solvent.

A low-temperature, environment-friendly approach to the synthesis of magnesium borates using magnesium waste scraps

Abstract In the present study, magnesium borate synthesis was performed by a hydrothermal mixing method, with the use of magnesium waste scraps (W) as the magnesium source, along with boric acid (H) or boron oxide (B) as the boron source. For an environment-friendly approach, a solid waste of magnesium was used at low reaction temperatures. Results of X-ray diffraction analyses showed that admontite [MgO(B2O3)3·7(H2O)] and mcallisterite [Mg2(B6O7(OH)6)2·9(H2O)] types of magnesium minerals were obtained from the synthesis. Through Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy, in both the infrared and the visible regions, characteristic borate bands were observed. The results of the boron oxide content analyses were in agreement with literature data. The particle sizes, obtained by scanning electron microscopy analyses, were found within the range of 200 nm to 2 μm for mcallisterite and 210 nm to 2.5 μm for admontite minerals. The reaction yields of the minerals were calculated in the range of 16.6–82.0% for the experiments on waste magnesium and boric acid, whereas for the experiments on waste magnesium and boron oxide these were 12.7–78.8%.