Characterization and microstructure analysis of sodium alginate incorporate with iron (III) oxide for biomedical application.

This research focuses on the characterisation of sodium alginate incorporated with Iron (III) oxide for biomedical applications. First, biofilm and bead samples with and without 0.1 g, 0.2 g, and 0.3 g iron (III)oxide particles are prepared by manual syringe technique and solution casting. Next, sodium alginate biofilms and beads incorporated with and without Iron (III) particles were analysed by microstructure using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). Energy–dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDS) analysis was applied as well to reveal the chemical elements present in the sample. The samples were characterised using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) analysis. Microstructure analysis results revealed that the microstructure of 0.1g, 0.2g, and 0.3g beads varied due to the amount of iron (III) oxide particles. Meanwhile, EDS detected that the chemical elemental present were mainly Fe3+, O2−, Ca2+, and Cl−. The existence of halite crystalline or sodium chloride, magnetite, sodium iron oxide, iron oxide, and maghemite structures was determined by XRD analysis to account for the varying diffraction peaks of the samples. Based on the AFM result, the surface roughness of all shapes resulted in different topography shapes due to the different weight of iron (iii) oxides that shows the increment of the weight resulted in the formation of different valleys and hills on the biofilm. Finally, the experiments concluded that sodium alginate incorporated with iron (III) oxide is promising for biomedical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]