Hydrothermal Synthesis and Characterization of Single-Crystalline -Fe2O3 Nanocubes

Single-crystalline ?-Fe2O3 nanocubes were successfully obtained in large quantities through a facile one-step hydrothermal synthetic route under mild conditions. In this synthetic system, aqueous iron (III) nitrate (Fe(NO3)3⋅9H2O) served as iron source and triethylamine served as precipitant and alkaline agent. By prolonging reaction time from 1 h to 24 h, the evolution process of ?-Fe2O3, from nanorhombohedra to nanohexahedron, and finally nanocube, was observed. The products were characterized by Powder X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), High-resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM), Selected-Area Electron Diffraction (SAED), and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometry (FTIR). The possible formation mechanism was discussed on basis of the experimental results.