Template-free synthesis of monodispersed and single-crystalline cantaloupe-like Fe2O3 superstructures

Monodispersed and single-crystalline cantaloupe-like Fe2O3 superstructures have been successfully prepared by a template-free hydrothermal synthetic route. The as-obtained products are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution TEM (HRTEM), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), and nitrogen adsorption-desorption measurement. The TEM and SEM images show that cantaloupe-like Fe2O3 superstructures composed of well-aligned Fe2O3 nanorods have an average length of 1.5 mu m and a mean diameter of 500 nm. The as-prepared Fe2O3 superstructures have a comparatively small Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area of about 9.82 m(2)/g. Magnetic hysteresis measurements reveal that cantaloupe-like Fe2O3 superstructures display normal ferromagnetic behaviors with the remanence and coercivity of 0.2182 emu/g and 2279.0 Oe at room temperature. The formation mechanism of cantaloupe-like Fe2O3 superstructures is also discussed.