Iron(III) acetate was synthesized by the reflux method using iron enriched in the 57Fe isotope and the compound processed by freeze-drying. The as-synthesized and freeze-dried acetates were characterized regarding their structural, thermal, vibrational and hyperfine properties. Similar diffractometric and spectroscopic results were found for both materials and also for an industrial acetate made with natural iron. However, the microstructures differed: the as-synthesized compound showed flake morphology with micrometric dimensions, whereas the freeze-dried showed flake morphology with sub-micrometric dimensions. The activation energies for thermal decomposition, calculated from the exothermic events occurring in differential scanning calorimetry measurements, were 100.9 kJ/mol (as-synthesized) and 114.7 kJ/mol (freeze-dried).
iron acetate; freeze-drying; Mössbauer spectroscopy
