Facile synthesis of anisotropic single crystalline α-Fe2O3 nanoplates and their facet-dependent catalytic performance

In this work, a one step solvothermal method was used to synthesize uniform anisotropic hexagonal and cylindrical hematite nanoplates in the presence of methanol and ethylene di-amine. The phase and morphology of the samples were confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and electron microscopy. Photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) was carried out using two different hematite nanoplates to compare their catalytic performance. A systematic study of different parameters affecting the photo-degradation of MB was performed. Hexagonal nanoplates exposing (110), (102) and (104) facets exhibit enhanced photocatalytic activity compared to the cylindrical nanoplates that expose only (110) and (102) facets, confirming that the high catalytic activity of the hexagonal nanoplates is attributed to the exposure of more catalytically active facets.