Facile hydrothermal synthesis of flower-like hematite microstructure with high photocatalytic properties

A flower-like hematite microstructure has been successfully prepared by a facile hydrothermal synthesis method without using any organic solvents or templates. It is revealed that the flower-like hematite microstructure consists of well-crystallized nanorods with the average diameter of about 100±15 nm and average length of about 900±100 nm growing from the centers. A possible growth mechanism of the flower-like α-Fe₂O₃ microstructure is proposed and discussed. The photocatalytic properties of the synthesized flower-like hematite nanostructure are evaluated using the degradation of rhodamine B in aqueous solution.