Hydrothermal synthesis of hematite nanostructures for photocatalytic applications

In this study, hematite (α-F2O3) nanostructures with porous plate and pseudo-cubic are fabricated via hydrothermal synthesis at 200 oC for 12 h. Microstructural and phase characterization of the snyhtesized hematite... [ view full abstract ]

In this study, hematite (α-F2O3) nanostructures with porous plate and pseudo-cubic are fabricated via hydrothermal synthesis at 200 ^oC for 12 h. Microstructural and phase characterization of the snyhtesized hematite nanostructures are conducted via X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) techniques. We have used pre-synthesized CuO nanorods for the synthesis and by modifying the surface of the sacrificial CuO nanostructures with polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), we could tune the morphology of the hematite from pseudo-nanocubes to porous plates. Photocatalytic activity of the samples are tested for the photodegradation of Rhodamine B under AM 1.5 filtered light. Water splitting performance of the samples are also tested by using a photoelectrochemical system.

Figure 1. SEM and TEM images of the porous nanoplates.

Figure 2. SEM and TEM images of the pseudo-nanocubes.