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Spherical silica particles doped with iron oxide
have been synthesized via base-catalyzed one-pot sol–gel
process using tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) and iron(III) eth-
oxide (ITE) as co-precursors. In the modified Sto
̈
ber pro-
cess adopted, depending on the concentration of ITE in the
starting composition, materials of various morphologies
were observed under a scanning electron microscope and
an atomic force microscope. The presence of ITE signifi-
cantly affected the formation process of particulate silica;
the spherical particles were formed accompanied by the co-
presence of irregular-shaped finer aggregates. The fraction
of the aggregates with rough surfaces increased with an
increase of the ITE content in the reaction mixture. Both
the spherical particles and irregular-shaped aggregates
contained iron hydroxide and they exhibited paramagnetic
behavior. The chemical composition and physicochemical
properties of the materials were determined using various
complementary spectroscopic methods.