Field emission scanning electron microscopes elements used

Phase purity, ciystallite size, morphology, specific surface area, and elemental composition of the sol-gel derived ferrite powders were analyzed using a Panalytical XPert MPD/DY636 powder X-ray diffractometer, a Zeiss Supra 55 VP field-emission scanning electron microscope (SEM), a FEI -Tecnai G2 200kV transmission electron microscope (TEM), a BET surface area analyzer (Micromeritics, ASAP 2420), and an ICP (Thermo, iCAP 6500). 

After 5 minutes of reaction time in each case, the solution was centrifuged and washed with DI water three times. A few drops of washed solutions were placed on sample holders in each case and left to dry under ambient conditions. The dried sanq>les were either coated by evaporation of gold-palladium alloy or sputter coated with gold and they were further characterised by Field Emission-Scanning Electron Microscope (FE-SEM) for product morphology, which was also equipped with an Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) facility for elemental analysis. In the control experiments without using the protein, no silica precipitation was observed even over a 24 hour period, as was described previously [13]. 

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