Investigation on magnetic properties of α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles synthesized under surfactant-free condition by hydrothermal process

Impurity free α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles have been synthesized by hydrothermal method using two different precursors, FeCl3·6H2O and Fe(NO3)3·9H2O. The physical properties of the synthesized nanoparticles were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy (RS), scanning electron microscope (SEM) high resolution transmission electron microscope (HR-TEM) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The average particle size of the nanoparticles synthesized using FeCl3·6H2O and Fe(NO3)3·9H2O was calculated to be ∼60 and ∼87 nm, respectively. The magnetic properties of the α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles synthesized using both the precursors were found be quite different, which may be attributed to the different particle size of the nanoparticles.