Question

are fe3o4 and fe2o3 both rust with full explanation fast please

Answer 1

The answer is peculiar... Fe3O4 is commonly know as magnetite, it is the one that gave origin to the research in magnetism, as it is magnetic... But so is Fe2O3... However, both have a disctinct X-ray diffraction pattern, so, X-ray diffraction or electron diffraction (on a Transmission Electron Microscope) can distinguish particles of both phases. One has the main peak at a d of 2.69 Angstrom and the other one a 2.53 Angstrom (33-35 degrees in 2teta configuration, and both have some other peaks which are different and that have different intensities. So, that is one way of identifying each of them. Now, the thing is: what do you have to differentiate? a bulk sample collected? particles that were collected on an environment? because if it is on a "solvent" (water or alcohol), then just take a TEM grid with carbon coating (formvar may not handle the beam ), to "fish them", and go to a TEM to see them and to do a diffraction pattern. If they are on a "vial", you may fill in a capilary and go to an x-ray diffraction machine to collect the data. The method may depend on what you have to differentiate, and if it is actual nanoparticles... if they are too big (over 50nm), TEM may not be able to have a nice diffration pattern, even if it may still be doable....

P.S. One detail: some TEM operators may have concern that the magnetic particles are projected and taken out of the grid coating by the electromagnetic lenses... I may say that I've watched them on an old Philips EM301 and on a recent Tecnai G2 200kv, and had no problems whatsoever... I also had that "fear", and tested it several times, and still haven't watched any magnetic particle being removed... However, astigmatism will have to be adjusted accordingly to have a good image

Thanks