Synthesis of porous alpha-Fe2O3 nanorods and deposition of very small gold particles in the pores for catalytic oxidation of CO

FeO(OH) nanorods were prepared by a mild hydrothermal synthesis using tetraethylammonium hydroxide (TEAOH) as the structure director. The as-prepared FeO(OH) was converted to porous (alpha-Fe2O3 nanorods via calcination at 300 degrees C. The alpha-Fe2O3 nanorods have a pore size distribution in the range of 1-5 nm, which is ideal to house very small gold (Au) particles. Later, by employing our invented An- colloid-method, in which lysine was used as the capping reagent and sonication was employed to facilitate the deposition of the An particles, we inserted very small Au particles into these pores. The prepared Au/alpha-Fe2O3-nanorod catalyst exhibited higher catalytic activity than the Au/alpha-Fe2O3 (Fluka) catalyst.