Journal
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF INORGANIC CHEMISTRY
Volume 2013, Issue 31, Pages 5454-5461Publisher
WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH
DOI: 10.1002/ejic.201300873
Keywords
beta-Fe2O3; epsilon-Fe2O3; Chemical vapor deposition; Nanostructures; Morphology
Categories
Funding
- European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) [ENHANCE-238409]
- ERC [246791-COUNTATOMS]
- Fund for Scientific Research Flanders (FWO)
- FP7 project SOLAROGENIX [NMP4-SL-2012-310333]
- Regione Lombardia INSTM Atlante
- Padova University [60A03-5517]
- PRAT [CPDA102579]
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Si(100)-supported Fe2O3 nanomaterials were developed by a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) approach. The syntheses, which were performed at temperatures between 400 and 550 degrees C, selectively yielded the scarcely studied - and E-Fe2O3 polymorphs under O-2 or O-2 + H2O reaction environments, respectively. Correspondingly, the observed morphology underwent a progressive evolution from interconnected nanopyramids to vertically aligned nanorods. The present study aims to provide novel insights into Fe2O3 nano-organization by a systematic investigation of the system structure/morphology and of their interrelations with growth conditions. In particular, for the first time, the - and E-Fe2O3 preparation process has been accompanied by a thorough multitechnique investigation, which, beyond X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), is carried out by X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDXS), atomic force microscopy (AFM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), electron diffraction (ED), scanning TEM electron energy-loss spectroscopy (STEM-EELS), and high-angle annular dark-field STEM (HAADF-STEM). Remarkably, the target materials showed a high structural and compositional homogeneity throughout the whole thickness of the nanodeposit. In particular, spatially resolved EELS chemical maps through the spectrum imaging (SI) technique enabled us to gain important information on the local Fe coordination, which is of crucial importance in determining the system reactivity. The described preparation method is in fact a powerful tool to simultaneously tailor phase composition and morphology of iron(III) oxide nanomaterials, the potential applications of which include photocatalysis, magnetic devices, gas sensors, and anodes for Li-ion batteries.
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