Expeditious organic-free assembly: morphologically controlled synthesis of iron oxides using microwaves

A microwave hydrothermal method is developed for the synthesis of iron oxides, α-Fe2O3, β-FeOOH, and the junction of α-Fe2O3-β-FeOOH. This method is absolutely organic-free, and various structures could be obtained simply by changing the use of the iron source and NaOH. The as-prepared sea urchin-like β-FeOOH exhibits excellent catalytic performance for the degradation of methylene blue (MB) in the presence of H2O2.