low temperature synthesis of α-fe2o3 nano-rods using simple chemical route

iron oxide (fe2o3) is widely used as a catalyst, pigment and gas sensitive material.  in this article, α-fe2o3 nano-rods were first synthesized via a simple chemical method using iron(iii) nitrate 9- hydrate (fe(no3)3.9h2o) as precursor. xrd pattern showed that the iron oxide nanoparticles exhibited alpha-fe2o3 (hematite) structure in nanocrystals. the single-phase α- fe2o3 nano-rods were prepared when the samples calcined at 500 °c. the smallest particle size was found to be 18 nm in diameter. the sem studies depicted rod-like shaped particles with formation of clusters by increasing annealing temperature. the sharp peaks in ftir spectrum determined the purity of fe2o3 nanoparticles and absorbance peak of uv-vis spectrum showed the small bandgap energy of 2.77 ev. the vsm result showed a coercive field and saturation magnetism around 90 g and 9.95 emu/g, respectively.