Growth behavior and influence factors of three-dimensional hierarchical flower-like FeF3•0.33H2O

Iron fluoride is widely used in energy and heterogeneous catalytic reactions due to its advantages such as high specific capacity and low cost. However, most of the current research is to modify the material size of iron fluoride, and there are few reports on the adjustment of its crystal plane and morphology. This work reports a method for synthesizing highly dispersed three-dimensional flower-like FeF3•0.33H2O particles with a simple one-step solvothermal method using inorganic anions. Furthermore, the influence of the presence of inorganic anions on the crystal morphology and crystal plane orientation is described and quantified through the calculation of atomic density and the characterization of the morphology and specific surface area of the material. Among them, a micro-nano flower-like material constructed of tens of nanometers of primary particles has a larger (002) plane area and specific surface area than traditional materials. Generally, the (002) plane has a one-dimensional tunnel composed of multiple hexagonal cavities, which is helpful for the ion intercalation and deintercalation. Therefore, FeF3•0.33H2O crystals with specific morphology can be obtained by adjusting the type of inorganic anions, reaction time as well as water content in the solvent.