Hydrothermal Synthesis of α-Fe2O3 Nanostructures and Evaluation of Their Antibacterial Activity

In the present work, an efficient and inexpensive method was used to fabricate alpha phase iron oxide (α-Fe 2 O 3 ) nanostructures. The results of X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements confirm the high purity of the sample with the appearance of all diffraction peaks of α-Fe 2 O 3 nanostructures and the absence of any other peaks. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) confirms the presence agglomeration of small nanostructures that growth on nanofiber bundles’ energy dispersive. The optical measurements show a high absorption of the electromagnetic radiation spectrum in the visible region with a band-gap of 2.30 eV. The results of antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli confirmed the presence of high growth inhibition, which increased with increasing concentration of α-Fe 2 O 3 nanostructures. The authors suggest that the current work can be used to improve the properties of materials used in various medical–industrial applications.