Hydrothermal synthesis and characterization of α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles

Iron oxide (Fe2O3) nanoparticles were synthesized by a simple hydrothermal synthesis method using only Fe(NO3)3·9H2O and NH3·H2O as raw materials. The effect of reaction temperature and time on the crystalline phase and morphology of Fe2O3 products was investigated. The products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The XRD and TEM results show that reaction temperature and time play an important role in the formation of the crystalline phase and morphology of the products. With increasing reaction temperature and time, the diffraction peaks of α-Fe2O3 become stronger and sharper, and the morphologies of the samples have an obvious change from floccules to nanoparticles. FTIR peaks show that α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles have about a 25 cm−1 shift to higher frequency compared with those of α-Fe2O3 with other morphologies.