Preparation and catalytic property of single crystal multiporous α-Fe2O3 nanorods

The alpha-FeOOH nanorods were prepared via hydrothermal reaction of Fe(NO3)(3)center dot 9H(2)O and KOH at 100 degrees C for 6h. Then the alpha-FeOOH nanords were heat treated at different temperautres, and single crystalline and multiporous alpha-Fe2O3 nanorods were obtained. The phase and morphology of the samples were characterized by XRD and TEM. The heal, treatment process was investigated by TGA and FT-IR. The results show that the phase transition of alpha-FeOOH --> alpha-Fe2O3 occurrs between 239 degrees C and 259.1 degrees C. The alpha-Fe2O3 still keeps in rod shape and lots of holes appear on the surface which disappear with the temperature increasing. The catalytic performance of alpha-Fe2O3 nanorods was studied by decomposition of ammonium perchlorate(AP) based on DTA., The higher-temperature of exothermic peak of AP shifts towards low temperature when alpha-Fe2O3 nanorods are introduced into the reaction, and the largest decrement reaches 71.4 degrees C for the alpha-Fe2O3 nanorods heat treated at 350 degrees C.