Morphological and magnetic properties of the hydrothermally prepared α-Fe2O3 nanorods

alpha-Fe2O3 nanorods were synthesized via hydrothermal method. X-ray powder diffraction revealed the formation of rhombohedral alpha-Fe2O3 single crystal phase with fiber texture. Scanning and transmission electron micrographs analyses showed that the rhombohedral alpha-Fe2O3 has nanorods in shape with diameters of 40-85 nm and lengths of 150-45,000 nm. Isothermal magnetization vs. applied magnetic field curves measured at room and liquid nitrogen temperatures displayed a variation on magnetic ordering: from weak ferromagnetism at room temperature to not hysteretic behavior at liquid nitrogen temperature that is well described by a Langevin function. Moreover, the zero field cooling-field cooling curves under applied magnetic field of 100 Oe confirms the decreasing of Morin temperature transition due to nanometric size of the samples. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.