Polyoxometalate-assisted one-step fabrication of porous nanorods of β-FeOOH and the facile transition to hematite

Uniform porous beta-FeOOH nanorods of 10-20 nm have been controllably fabricated by direct hydrothermal treatment of FeCl3 and dilute tungstophosphoric acid H3PW12O40 (PW12) solution. N-2 adsorption-desorption properties of the nanorods were studied. Hematite nanorods with the same morphologies and interesting weak ferromagnetic properties were obtained by annealing these beta-FeOOH nanorods.