First Iron Oxide Workshop and VI Colombian Mössbauer Spectrometry School

The First Iron Oxide Workshop and VI Colombian Mössbauer Spectrometry School event marks a pivotal convergence of diverse sectors, including academy, mining, medicine, energy transition, and more. This gathering will unite senior executives, managers, scientists, and the Mossbauer community. The event responds to the pressing demand for scientific and technological strides that optimize iron ore utilization and its multifaceted applications through enlightening courses, illuminating keynotes, and engaging discussions. In this pursuit, critical environmental and societal challenges also take centre stage as the event seeks to forge collaboration and progress within Colombia—a nation endowed with abundant iron oxide deposits and a fervent interest in perpetuating the study and utilization of the Mössbauer technique.

Simultaneously, the Sixth Colombian School of Mössbauer Spectroscopy emerges as a catalyst for knowledge sharing and collaborative synergies, amalgamating Research Groups and international luminaries. Encompassing fundamental and advanced courses in

Mössbauer Spectroscopy while spotlighting strides in instrumentation, this academic event propels research diffusion through presentations. Rooted in the Mössbauer effect’s discovery in the 1950s, this technique has been pivotal in unravelling atomic, nuclear, chemical, and magnetic intricacies of matter. Its far-reaching applications span solid-state physics, magnetism, metallurgy, chemistry, and biophysics. The school’s primary mission persists: to perpetuate Mössbauer Spectroscopy’s prominence, especially among students across scientific and engineering disciplines, capitalizing on its cost-effective allure and multifaceted contributions across domains.

The First Iron Oxide Workshop explores the versatile realm of iron oxide particles arising from water reactions under diverse redox and pH conditions. These particles, encompassing magnetite, maghemite, goethite, hematite, and akaganeite, find relevance across academia, water treatment, electronics, new energy production, cosmetics, medicine, and the paint industry. Their minute scale, typically under 100 nm, coupled with heightened reactivity due to expansive surface area, underpins their adaptability. Within biomedicine, these iron oxide particles showcase extraordinary potential in applications like magnetic hyperthermia, contrast agents for MRI imaging, precise drug delivery systems, and gene therapy. Furthermore, the intrinsic attributes of iron oxides, such as cost-effectiveness, redox adaptability, magnetic properties, and efficient adsorption, make them highly desirable for water treatment applications. Iron ore formation and the subsequent oxidation of minerals like magnetite appear to hold promise as sources for generating hydrogen gas (H₂). Consequently, extensive research spanning recent decades has meticulously honed the synthesis of iron oxide particles, with a dedicated emphasis on comprehending their natural origins, size, shape, reproducibility, and comprehensive property characterization, often harnessing advanced techniques like Mössbauer spectroscopy and synchrotron methods. In light of these pursuits, the Workshop embraces a diverse spectrum of topics, encompassing:

• Iron Characterization
• Iron Water Treatment
• Iron Medicine
• Iron Energy Transition
• Iron Paleoredox Proxies