Hydrothermal synthesis and characterization of α-Fe203 nanoparticles

Iron oxide (Fe2O3) nanoparticles were synthesized by a simple hydrothermal synthesis method using only Fe(NO3)3 center dot 9H(2)O and NH3 center dot H2O as raw materials. The effect of reaction temperature and time on the crystalline phase and morphology of Fe2O3 products was investigated. The products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The XRD and TEM results show that reaction temperature and time play an important role in the formation of the crystalline phase and morphology of the products. With increasing reaction temperature and time, the diffraction peaks of alpha-Fe2O3 become stronger and sharper, and the morphologies of the samples have an obvious change from floccules to nanoparticles. FTIR peaks show that alpha-Fe2O3 nanoparticles have about a 25 cm(-1) shift to higher frequency compared with those of alpha-Fe2O3 with other morphologies. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.