thermal synthesis of hematite nanoparticles: structural, magnetic and morphological characterizations

Hematite (α-fe2o3) nanoparticle was synthesized using organometallic compound - ferrocene carboxaldehydethrough solventless solid state thermal decomposition technique. the crystal structure, magnetic andmorphological properties of the decomposed material were studied using powder x-ray diffraction (xrd),superconducting quantum interference device (squid) magnetometry, 57fe mössbauer spectroscopy,scanning electron microscopy (sem), transmission electron microscopy (tem) and energy-dispersive x-rayspectroscopy (edx) techniques. structural study confirmed that the synthesized material is hematite withhexagonal phase and good crystallinity. the temperature-dependent magnetization measurement exhibitedthe morin transition - the yardstick for hematite formation. mössbauer spectroscopic study confirmed thepurity of phase of the synthesized material. the sem study observed mostly the agglomerated tiny particlesalong with some ring-shaped surface structures. the tem study of the synthesized material showed that thehighest distribution of the particles with ~5 nm size. the observed edx spectra confirmed the existence offe and o in the synthesized material. the solid state reaction process leading to hematite on decompositionof ferrocene carboxaldehyde has also been proposed. present study describes a simple process for thepreparation of pure hematite nanoparticle by solventless method.