Magnetic and electrochemical behavior of rhombohedral α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles with (104) dominant facets

Uniform rhombohedral alpha-Fe2O3 nanoparticles, similar to 60nm in size, were synthesized via a triphenylphosphine-assisted hydrothermal method. Scanning electron micrograph (SEM) and transmission electron micrograph (TEM) analyses showed that the as-synthesized rhombohedral nanoparticles were enclosed by six (1 0 4) planes. The concentration of triphenylphosphine played an important role in morphological evolution of the alpha-Fe2O3 nanoparticles. The as-prepared rhombohedral nanoparticles possessed remanent magnetization M-r of 2.6 x 10(-3) emu/g and coercivity H-c of 2.05 Oe, both lower than those of other alpha-Fe2O3 particles with similar size, indicating their potential applications as superparamagnetic precursor materials. Furthermore, these rhombohedral alpha-Fe2O3 nanoparticles exhibited good sensor capability toward H2O2 with a linear response in the concentration range of 2-20 mM. (c) 2013 Chinese Society of Particuology and Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.