Hematite Thin Films with Various Nanoscopic Morphologies Through Control of Self-assembly Structures

Overview

Journal Nanoscale Res Lett

Publisher Springer

Specialty Biotechnology

Date 2015 Jun 3

PMID 26034420

Citations 2

Authors

Jingling Liu

Yong-Tae Kim

Young-Uk Kwon

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Hematite (α-Fe2O3) thin films with various nanostructures were synthesized through self-assembly between iron oxide hydroxide particles, generated by hydrolysis and condensation of Fe(NO3)3 · 6H2O, and a Pluronic triblock copolymer (F127, (EO)106(PO)70(EO)106, EO = ethylene oxide, PO = propylene oxide), followed by calcination. The self-assembly structure can be tuned by introducing water in a controlled manner through the control of the humidity level in the surrounding of the as-cast films during aging stage. For the given Fe(NO3)3 · 6H2O:F127 ratio, there appear to be three different thermodynamically stable self-assembly structures depending on the water content in the film material, which correspond to mesoporous, spherical micellar, and rod-like micellar structures after removal of F127. Coupled with the thermodynamic driving forces, the kinetics of the irreversible reactions of coalescence of iron oxide hydroxide particles into larger ones induce diverse nanostructures of the resultant films. The length scale of so-obtained nanostructures ranges from 6 nm to a few hundred nanometers. In addition to water content, the effects of other experimental parameters such as aging temperature, spin rate during spin coating, type of substrate, and type of iron reagent were investigated.

Citing Articles

Thermodynamics driving phytochemical self-assembly morphological change and efficacy enhancement originated from single and co-decoction of traditional chinese medicine.

Huang X, Liu X, Lin X, Yuan Z, Zhang Y, Wang Z J Nanobiotechnology. 2022; 20(1):527.

PMID: 36510210 PMC: 9743513. DOI: 10.1186/s12951-022-01734-w.

Molecular species forming at the α-FeO nanoparticle-aqueous solution interface.

Ali H, Seidel R, Pohl M, Winter B Chem Sci. 2018; 9(19):4511-4523.

PMID: 29896394 PMC: 5961451. DOI: 10.1039/c7sc05156e.

References

Yang Y, Ma H, Zhuang J, Wang X . Morphology-controlled synthesis of hematite nanocrystals and their facet effects on gas-sensing properties. Inorg Chem. 2011; 50(20):10143-51. DOI: 10.1021/ic201104w. View

Morkved , Lu , Urbas , Ehrichs , JAEGER , Mansky . Local Control of Microdomain Orientation in Diblock Copolymer Thin Films with Electric Fields. Science. 1996; 273(5277):931-3. DOI: 10.1126/science.273.5277.931. View

Martin C . Nanomaterials: a membrane-based synthetic approach. Science. 1994; 266(5193):1961-6. DOI: 10.1126/science.266.5193.1961. View

Liu J, Shahid M, Ko Y, Kim E, Ahn T, Park J . Investigation of porosity and heterojunction effects of a mesoporous hematite electrode on photoelectrochemical water splitting. Phys Chem Chem Phys. 2013; 15(24):9775-82. DOI: 10.1039/c3cp51053k. View

Lee K, Park S, Mirkin C, Smith J, Mrksich M . Protein nanoarrays generated by dip-pen nanolithography. Science. 2002; 295(5560):1702-5. DOI: 10.1126/science.1067172. View

Wen X, Wang S, Ding Y, Wang Z, Yang S . Controlled growth of large-area, uniform, vertically aligned arrays of alpha-Fe2O3 nanobelts and nanowires. J Phys Chem B. 2006; 109(1):215-20. DOI: 10.1021/jp0461448. View

Kondofersky I, Dunn H, Muller A, Mandlmeier B, Feckl J, Fattakhova-Rohlfing D . Electron collection in host-guest nanostructured hematite photoanodes for water splitting: the influence of scaffold doping density. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2015; 7(8):4623-30. DOI: 10.1021/am5078667. View

Asenath-Smith E, Hovden R, Kourkoutis L, Estroff L . Hierarchically structured hematite architectures achieved by growth in a silica hydrogel. J Am Chem Soc. 2015; 137(15):5184-92. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5b01697. View

Discher D, Eisenberg A . Polymer vesicles. Science. 2002; 297(5583):967-73. DOI: 10.1126/science.1074972. View

10.

Liu B, Zeng H . Symmetric and asymmetric Ostwald ripening in the fabrication of homogeneous core-shell semiconductors. Small. 2006; 1(5):566-71. DOI: 10.1002/smll.200500020. View

11.

Kim D, Shim Y, Jeon J, Jeong H, Park S, Kim Y . Vertically ordered hematite nanotube array as an ultrasensitive and rapid response acetone sensor. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2014; 6(17):14779-84. DOI: 10.1021/am504156w. View

12.

Zhang L, Eisenberg A . Multiple Morphologies of "Crew-Cut" Aggregates of Polystyrene-b-poly(acrylic acid) Block Copolymers. Science. 1995; 268(5218):1728-31. DOI: 10.1126/science.268.5218.1728. View

13.

Morrish R, Rahman M, MacElroy J, Wolden C . Activation of hematite nanorod arrays for photoelectrochemical water splitting. ChemSusChem. 2011; 4(4):474-9. DOI: 10.1002/cssc.201100066. View

14.

Yu J, Joo J, Park H, Baik S, Kim Y, Kim S . Synthesis of quantum-sized cubic ZnS nanorods by the oriented attachment mechanism. J Am Chem Soc. 2005; 127(15):5662-70. DOI: 10.1021/ja044593f. View

15.

Dunn H, Feckl J, Muller A, Fattakhova-Rohlfing D, Morehead S, Roos J . Tin doping speeds up hole transfer during light-driven water oxidation at hematite photoanodes. Phys Chem Chem Phys. 2014; 16(44):24610-20. DOI: 10.1039/c4cp03946g. View

16.

Peng , Manna , Yang , Wickham , Scher , Kadavanich . Shape control of CdSe nanocrystals. Nature. 2000; 404(6773):59-61. DOI: 10.1038/35003535. View

17.

Shi X, Zhang K, Shin K, Moon J, Lee T, Park J . Constructing inverse opal structured hematite photoanodes via electrochemical process and their application to photoelectrochemical water splitting. Phys Chem Chem Phys. 2013; 15(28):11717-22. DOI: 10.1039/c3cp50459j. View

18.

Li M, Xue J . Ordered mesoporous carbon nanoparticles with well-controlled morphologies from sphere to rod via a soft-template route. J Colloid Interface Sci. 2012; 377(1):169-75. DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2012.03.085. View

19.

Liu J, Lee E, Kim Y, Kwon Y . Ultra-high capacitance hematite thin films with controlled nanoscopic morphologies. Nanoscale. 2014; 6(18):10643-9. DOI: 10.1039/c4nr03141e. View

20.

Ling Y, Wang G, Wheeler D, Zhang J, Li Y . Sn-doped hematite nanostructures for photoelectrochemical water splitting. Nano Lett. 2011; 11(5):2119-25. DOI: 10.1021/nl200708y. View