Synthesis and Characterization of Nontoxic Hollow Iron Oxide (α-Fe2O3)‎ Nanoparticles Using a Simple Hydrothermal Strategy

Abstract EN

Hollow spheres of iron oxide (α-Fe2O3) were successfully synthesized in a simple one-pot synthesis by using hydrothermal method.

Iron salt was dissolved together with glucose in water and then the mixture was heated to 180°C in an autoclave at 12 and 24 hours of synthesis time separately.

Carbon spheres were formed with the metal ions into their hydrophilic shell after the hydrothermal approach.

Hollow α-Fe2O3 spheres of around 200 to 300 nm size were formed after the calcination that lead to the removal of carbon.

Size of nanoparticles, surface area, and thickness of the α-Fe2O3 shell can be precisely controlled by controlling the ratio of iron and glucose.

Increasing the reaction time will decrease the shell thickness.

Phase confirmation and crystalline structure of these nanoparticles were done by XRD.

Surface morphology was characterized by SEM and TEM analysis showed the hollow spheres inside and a shell of α-Fe2O3.

Further confirmation was done by EDX and FTIR analysis.

Iron content was measured by ICP-OES.

Cytotoxicity was done by using CCK-8 assay kit in the Hep G-2 cell line showing the nontoxic behavior of α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles.

The as-prepared nanoparticles can be exploited in a number of applications in areas ranging from medicine to pharmaceutics to material science.