Effect of solvent surface tension on the radius of hematite nanoparticles

In this work, the hematite (Fe₂O₃) nanoparticles were synthesized by homogeneous precipitation in alcohol (tert-butanol)/water mixed solvents with varied surface tension. The surface tension of the solvent was decreased from 55.8 to 15.9 mN m^?1 by the increasing of the alcohol content from 20 to 80 vol %. The size of the particles was determined by BET, XRD and TEM techniques. Based on XRD results, the crystalline phase of Fe₂O₃ in all samples was attributed to the cubic hematite structure. The results show that the average particle size of the prepared hematite samples is decreased from 38 to 14 nm upon decreasing surface tension from 55.8 to 15.9 mN m^?1.