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Chemical synthesis of faceted α-Fe2O3 single-crystalline nanoparticles and their photocatalytic activity

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Abstract

Faceted hematite nanocrystals have been synthesized via a hydrothermal route and their different morphologies can be tuned by appropriate stabilizer molecules. Detailed observation by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy has revealed many terraces, steps, and kinks on the faceted surface of hematite nanoparticles, and thus, one growth mechanism of the terrace-step-kink model has been suggested to play a major role in determining the equilibrium morphology, together with effect of surface chemistry via the interaction between outer surfaces of iron and oxygen ions and functional groups. The photocatalytic activities were evaluated by decomposing rhodamine B dye. It has been shown that polyhedron hematite particles enclosed by high-index surface planes exhibited higher photoactivity. Density functional theory calculations revealed that the higher photoactivity originates from the more flat band edge in directions normal to the surface planes.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the NSFC (No. 51002026) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Nos. N110410002, N110810001, and N100702001). S. Li acknowledges the financial support from the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (2012AA030314).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory for Anisotropy and Texture of Materials, Northeastern University, Shenyang, 110819, China

    Song Li, Gaowu Qin, Yuping Ren & Liang Zuo

  2. School of Science, Northeastern University, Shenyang, 110819, China

    Xiangying Meng

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  1. Song Li
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  2. Gaowu Qin
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  3. Xiangying Meng
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  4. Yuping Ren
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  5. Liang Zuo
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Correspondence to Song Li.

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Li, S., Qin, G., Meng, X. et al. Chemical synthesis of faceted α-Fe2O3 single-crystalline nanoparticles and their photocatalytic activity. J Mater Sci 48, 5744–5749 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-013-7366-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-013-7366-x

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