Spindle porous iron nanoparticles were firstly synthesized by reducing the pre-synthesized hematite (alpha-Fe(2)O(3)) spindle particles with hydrogen gas. The products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). nitrogen adsorption/desorption isotherms and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM). A lattice shrinkage mechanism was employed to explain the formation process of the porous structure, and the adsorbed phosphate was proposed as a protective shell in the reduction process. N(2) adsorption/desorption result showed a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area of 29.7 m(2)/g and a continuous pore size distribution from 2 nm to 100 nm. The magnetic hysteresis loop of the synthesized iron particles showed a saturation magnetization of 84.65 emu/g and a coercivity of 442.36 Oe at room temperature. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.