Inorganic Mineralizer-Assisted Hydrothermal Synthesis of Porous α-Fe2O3 Nanowires with High Aspect Ratio

In this work, a large amount of uniform and high-dispersed alpha-FeOOH nanowires with diameters of 40 nm and lengths up to 2 similar to 3 mu m were synthesized via a low-temperature hydrothermal route using K2SO4 as mineralizer. After sintered at 300 degrees C for 2 h, porous hematite (alpha-Fe2O3) nanowires with aspect ratios up to about 20 were obtained and the one-dimension morphologies still kept well. The morpjologies and structure of the samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy FTIR transmission and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM & HRTEM), thermogravimetry-differential scanning calorimetry (TG-DSC) and N-2 physisorption measurements. The inorganic mineralizer (K2SO4) plays a key role in controlling the nucleation and growth of the nanowires and the function of K2SO4 were also discussed.