Hematite nanoparticles of undoped and manganese doped were synthesized from natural sand of Logas District Kuansing Regency Riau Province by ball milling method. Structural and morphological properties of these compounds were studied using X-Ray Diffractometer (XRD) and Scanning electron microscope (SEM) respectively. Crystalline structure, lattice parameters, morphologies of the synthesized compounds were studied and the results are discussed. X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed the presence of a hematite (α-Fe2O3) phase. Average crystallite size based on flections (1 0 4) for undoped and manganese doped magnetic iron oxide particles are 39.2 nm and 38.2 respectively. The intensity of (1 0 4) reflection is stronger for magnetic iron oxide synthesized for 60 hours than that of 2 step (60+60) hours ball milling. This indicates the product grown along (1 0 4) direction. The average crystallite size decreases when magnetic iron oxide is doped with 10% Mn as confirmed by SEM images.

Structural properties, morphology, and the catalytic activity of hematite (α-Fe2O3) nanoparticles for degradation of methylene blue have been studied. For this purpose, the hematite particles were synthesised from Logas natural sand by 2 steps ball milling method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed the presence of a hematite (α-Fe2O3) phase. However, other phases such as SiO2 and FeTiO3 are also confirmed by XRD. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed a wide distribution of particle sizes. Moreover, the shape of the grains is irregular form. The effect of reaction time and hematite nanoparticles dosage which affect the efficiency of catalytic reaction was investigated. Catalytic activity of hematite nanoparticles in the degradation of methylene blue (MB) was studied through ultraviolet visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis).

Modification of iron oxide nanoparticles by doping with transition metals has been intensively reported and many applications have been proven. Magnetic and structural properties, and the catalytic activity of undoped and manganese doped iron oxide nanoparticles for degradation of methylene blue have been studied. Preparation of undoped and manganese doped iron oxide nanoparticles was done by ball milling method using Logas natural sand as raw materials. The magnetic properties of the samples were determined using vibration sample magnetometer (VSM). A detailed analysis of the loop hysteresis reveals a reduction of saturation magnetization of the samples towards higher manganese-doping concentration (wt.%). The reduction in magnetization from 13.25 to 11.67 emu/g and enhanced the coercivity on manganese-doped samples from 224.35 to 352.18 Oe are observed to produce an improvement in the catalytic activity for manganese doped iron oxide nanoparticles compared to undoped samples. Catalytic activity of undoped and manganese doped iron oxide nanoparticles in the degradation of methylene blue was studied through ultraviolet visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis). Manganese doped iron oxide nanoparticles exhibit better catalytic activity for degrading methylene blue (88.880%) compared to that for undoped iron oxide nanopartices (81.805%) for 300 minutes reaction time.