Nanocellulose-Assisted
Formation of Porous Hematite
Nanostructures
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Abstract
We report the formation of porous
iron oxide (hematite) nanostructures
via sol–gel transformations of molecular precursors in the
confined space of self-organized nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) used
as a shape-persistent template. The obtained structures are highly
porous α-Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> (hematite) morphologies
with a well-defined anisotropic porosity. The character of the porous
nanostructure depends on the iron salt used as the precursor and the
heat treatment. Moreover, a postsynthetic hydrothermal treatment of
the NCC/iron salt composites strongly affects the crystal growth as
well as the porous nanomorphology of the obtained hematite scaffolds.
We demonstrate that the hydrothermal treatment alters the crystallization
mechanism of the molecular iron precursors, which proceeds via the
formation of anisotropic iron oxyhydroxide species. The nanocellulose
templating technique established here enables the straightforward
fabrication of a variety of mesoporous crystalline iron oxide scaffolds
with defined porous structure and is particularly attractive for the
processing of porous hematite films on different substrates