Structural- and optical-properties analysis of single crystalline hematite (α-Fe2O3) nanocubes prepared by one-pot hydrothermal approach

Rashid, N.M.A. and Haw, C.Y. and Chiu, W.S. and Khanis, N.H. and Rohaizad, A. and Khiew, P.S. and Rahman, S.A. (2016) Structural- and optical-properties analysis of single crystalline hematite (α-Fe2O3) nanocubes prepared by one-pot hydrothermal approach. CrystEngComm, 18 (25). pp. 4720-4732. ISSN 1466-8033, DOI https://doi.org/10.1039/c6ce00573j.

Full text not available from this repository.
Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c6ce00573j

Abstract

High quality single crystal hematite (α-Fe2O3) nanocubes with average dimensions of 40 nm were successfully synthesized by a facile one-pot hydrothermal method. Systematic analyses were performed to investigate the morphological-, structural- and optical-properties of the as-synthesized α-Fe2O3 nanocubes. Continuous formation and hourly monitoring towards proper arrangement of single crystal α-Fe2O3 nanocubes was observed throughout the hydrothermal heating process of 180 °C from 4 h to 12 h. The probable growth mechanism on the formation of cubic nanostructures is also proposed. Electron micrographs show the cubic α-Fe2O3 synthesized at the most optimum 8 h hydrothermal heating duration are indeed produced in high-yield with a well-defined cubical shape. The typical rhombohedral structure of cubic α-Fe2O3 was evident from the XRD pattern. The SAED pattern indicates that the α-Fe2O3 nanocubes are single-crystalline in nature, with lattice-fringes and a d-spacing value of 3.6 Å. The optical characterization reveals that α-Fe2O3 nanocubes show strong visible-light absorption with a band gap energy of ∼2.1 eV while the photoluminescence emission spectra depicts a mono-peak centered at ∼590 nm. Both the SAED pattern and UV-vis spectra show a strong correlation with the standard α-Fe2O3. The as-synthesized α-Fe2O3 single crystal is of high quality that potentially could be used as a visible-light active nanomaterial in renewable energy device applications.

Item Type: Article
Funders: UNSPECIFIED
Uncontrolled Keywords: Hematite; Single crystal; Nanocubes; Hydrothermal; Characterization
Subjects: Q Science > QC Physics
Divisions: Faculty of Science > Department of Physics
Depositing User: Ms. Juhaida Abd Rahim
Date Deposited: 12 Oct 2017 02:06
Last Modified: 12 Oct 2017 02:06
URI: http://eprints.um.edu.my/id/eprint/17978

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item