An investigation of thermal decomposition of β-FeOOH nanowire arrays assembled in AAO templates

β-FeOOH nanowire arrays were assembled into porous anodized aluminum oxide (AAO) templates by electrochemical deposition in the mixture solution of FeCl3 and (NH4)2C2O4. In order to obtain well-crystallized α-Fe2O3 and other iron oxides nanowires, β-FeOOH nanowire arrays with amorphous crystal structure were heat-treated at different temperatures from 200 to 600 °C. The decomposition products were characterized by DTA, XRD, FTIR, and Mössbauer spectroscopy. When heat-treated at 200 °C, only 65% of β-FeOOH decomposed, whereas, when the temperature was up to 300 °C, it was completely decomposed and formed poorly crystallized β-Fe2O3. This transition temperature is higher than the 200 °C obtained on other β-FeOOH materials. However, when heated above 300 °C, the main products are characterized as poorly crystallized α-Fe2O3 nanowires, whereas, well-crystallized α-Fe2O3 nanowire arrays can be formed when the temperature was up to 600 °C, and this temperature is also higher compared with those temperatures observed on other β-FeOOH materials. From Mössbauer results, the α-Fe2O3 nanowires were composed of fine particles in which 66% of the particles are superparamagnetic.