Facile route to synthesis α-Fe2O3/Pt urchin-like composites and their magnetic and electrocatalytic properties

The α-Fe2O3 urchin-like microspheres have been fabricated through a mild hydrothermal method without any template and surfactant. Subsequently, α-Fe2O3/Pt composition nanostructures were also prepared by the reduction of H2PtCl6 solution. The product has been extensively characterized by different techniques such as SEM, TEM, XRD, EDS, CVs, BET, TG, FTIR and SQUID. The objective of this work is to testify that not only the α-Fe2O3/Pt composition microstructures could be prepared by a simple method, but also the uniform Pt nanoparticles loading on the surface of α-Fe2O3 microspheres could effectively exhibit catalytic performances for methanol oxidation and reduce the consumption of Pt in CO oxidation. Significantly, the magnetization M(T) curves indicated the superparamagnetic performance of α-Fe2O3/Pt urchin-like microsphere in ca. 80 K, which showed different magnetic behaviors from bulk hematite. The novel microstructures have potentially useful in electrocatalytic applications such as in fuel cells and as biosensors.