Nano‑Porous Hematite Synthesized by Hydrothermal Growth

In 2026, researchers including Meirong Zong, Nshuti Cedrick, Wei Liang, Pinghua Zhu, Dongdong Liang, Haonan Liu, and Jiaxin Zou reported a new synthesis method for nano‑porous ellipsoidal hematite crystals in the European Journal of Mineralogy. ¹

The hydrothermal process begins with iron oxyhydroxides agglomerating within 30 minutes, followed by needle‑shaped FeOOH structures appearing around 45 minutes. As the reaction proceeds, these FeOOH dehydrates and transform into ellipsoidal hematite. After about 120 minutes, lattice rearrangement produces nanoporous ellipsoidal hematite with an average pore size of roughly 27 nm. ¹

This controlled growth mechanism allows precise tuning of crystal morphology and porosity, which can be advantageous for applications such as catalysis, adsorption, and drug delivery systems where hematite’s unique properties are valuable. ¹