Facile synthesis of α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles and their catalytic activity in oxidation of benzyl alcohols with periodic acid

• Homogeneous chemical precipitation followed by calcination effectively resulted in α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles.
• Nanoparticles size was tuned using surfactant polyethylene glycol with a molecular weight of 400 and 4000.
• The α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles showed rhombohedrally centered hexagonal structure.
• Nanoparticles synthesized in presence of PEG 4000 are quasi-spherical in shape with a size of 5–20 nm.
• α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles synthesized in presence of PEG 4000 showed highest catalytic efficiency.

α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized by homogeneous chemical precipitation followed by calcination. Size-tuning of NPs was achieved by using polyethylene glycol with a molecular weight of 400 and 4000 as surfactant. Synthesized α-Fe2O3 NPs were characterized by powder XRD, transmission electron microscopy, N2 adsorption–desorption isotherm and vibrating sample magnetometry. These α-Fe2O3 NPs were used as magnetically recoverable catalyst in oxidation of benzyl alcohols to aldehydes with periodic acid. The catalyst showed higher efficiency with decrease in their sizes.

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