Hematite hollow spheres with a mesoporous shell: Controlled synthesis and applications in gas sensor and lithium ion batteries

Novel alpha-Fe2O3 hollow spheres with uniformly distributed mesoporosity on the shell were successfully synthesized on a large scale by a smart complex precursor method, in which the composite mesoporous hollow structures were generated by utilizing different removing modes of oxalate ligands in ferric potassium oxalate. The shell of the hollow spheres exhibited honeycomb-like mesoporous nanostructures composed of single-crystal iron oxide nanoparticles and the as-obtained alpha-Fe2O3 composite hollow structures exhibited high gas sensitivity toward formaldehyde and ethanol at room temperature as well as favorable lithium ion battery performance.