Simple Hydrolysis Synthesis of Uniform Rice-Shapedβ-FeOOH Nanocrystals and Their Transformation toα-Fe2O3Microspheres

摘要

In the synthesis of nanostructure materials a specific emphasis has been focused on the control of shape and orientation of nanocrystals to obtain prerequisite properties of the materials. Nanorice is a new hybrid nanoparticle prolate geometry of nanoshells with reduced symmetry having new exciting optical behavior. Rice-shapedβ-FeOOH nanocrystals have been synthesized by a simple hydrolysis chemical method using ferric aqueous solution and urea as surfactant. The successive calcination ofβ-FeOOH nanocrystals at 650°C results in the formation of the porousα-Fe2O3(hematite) microspheres. The as-synthesized yield ofβ-FeOOH nanocrystals was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX), and optical spectroscopy. The successive transformation of rice-shapedβ-FeOOH nanostructures into porousα-Fe2O3(hematite) microspheres through calcination process was confirmed by XRD, SEM, and EDAX studies. The water contact angle of as-preparedα-Fe2O3microspheres shows hydrophobic behavior of the material.