Ultrathin α-Fe2O3 Nanoribbons and Their Moire Patterns

Ultrathin alpha-Fe2O3 nanoribbons several tens of nanometers in thickness were synthesized by heating iron foils under atmospheric conditions. Our result indicates that the growth rate of the crystal planes of these alpha-Fe2O3 nanostructures follows {110} > {104} >> {(2) over bar 10}, Moire patterns with different periodicities were observed due to the misorientations between the nanoribbons. Because of the finite size effect, the Morin temperature of the alpha-Fe2O3 nanoribbons with a thickness of 10 nm is reduced from 264 K of the bulk phase to only 42 K.