Fabrication of hematite (α-Fe2O3) nanoparticles using electrochemical deposition

Abstract

In this work, cathodic electrochemical deposition was proposed to fabricate reproducible and homogeneous hematite (α-Fe 2 O 3 ) nanoparticles on indium-tin-oxide (ITO) films. The α-Fe 2 O 3 nanoparticles, which were quasi-hexagonally shaped, were deposited in an aqueous mixture of FeCl 2 and FeCl 3 at the temperatures 16.5 °C, 40 °C and 60 °C. The electrochemically deposited α-Fe 2 O 3 nanoparticles showed excellent stability and good crystallinity. The α-Fe 2 O 3 nanoparticles were characterized by Raman spectroscope and X-ray diffractometer (XRD). A scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used to measure the size and shape of the nanoparticles. The experiment results have shown that the size and shape of nanoparticles were determined by electrochemical deposition conditions including the deposition time, current density, reaction temperature and solution concentration. The proposed electrochemical deposition method has been proven to be a cost-effective, environment friendly and highly efficient approach in fabricating well decentralized α-Fe 2 O 3 nanoparticles for different potential applications.