Sol-gel electrophoretic deposition and optical properties of Fe2O3 nanowire arrays

Ordered Fe2O3 nanowire arrays embedded in anodic alumina membranes have been fabricated by Sol-gel electrophoretic deposition. After annealing at 600degreesC, the Fe2O3 nanowire arrays were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), selected-area electron diffraction (SAED) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). SEM and TEM images show that these nanowires are dense, continuous and arranged roughly parallel to one another. XRD and SAED analysis together indicate that these Fe2O3 nanowires crystallize with a polycrystalline corundum structure. The optical absorption band edge of Fe2O3 nanowire arrays exhibits a blue shift with respect of that of the bulk Fe2O3 owing to the quantum size effect.