Hollow polyhedral α-Fe2O3 prepared by self-assembly and its photocatalytic activities in degradation of RhB

This paper reports a method of controllable synthesis of hollow polyhedral α-Fe 2 O 3 using H 3 btc and HF as additives. Three products with different morphologies were obtained by only adjusting the ratio of H 3 btc: HF. The as-prepared products were characterized using XRD, TG-DSC, FT-IR, Zeta potential analysis, UV, SEM and TEM. The characterization results reveal that H 3 btc is the key factor in preparing a hollow structure, and HF is vital to form a polyhedral morphology. On the basis of the time-dependent experiments, a probable growth mechanism of α-Fe 2 O 3 was proposed. Finally, the resulting hollow polyhedral α-Fe 2 O 3 exhibit good photocatalytic degradative ability for rhodamine B (RhB) molecules in water under visible light irradiation.