In acknowledgment of its vast and remarkable potential for applications such as magnetic liquids in photocatalysis, diagnostic imaging, drug delivery, electrodes in non-aqueous batteries, and as catalysts, research on the synthesis of different types of iron oxide nanoparticles is growing tremendously. Among the various polymoc forms of iron oxide, alpha-Fe2O3 (hematite) is widely used in catalysts, pigments, and gas sensors owing to its low cost, high resistance to corrosion, environmental friendliness, and nontoxicityIn his paper "Hydrothermal synthesis, characterization, and growth mechanism of hematite nanoparticles", in the Journal of Nanoparticle Research, Dr. Khalil demonstrated that uniformly crystalline and monodisperse sizes of hematite can be prepared using a facile and inexpensive hydrothermal method from the mixing of ammonia hydroxide and iron(II) chloride. Khalil characterized the NP's via an array of spectroscopies such X-ray diffraction, TEM, SEM, and Raman. He studied the effects of NP hematite growth on several key growth factors such as concentrations, temperature and reaction time. The journal currently has an impact factor of 2.3 and Khalil's work has already been cited three times. One of those is a self-citation to a 2015 publication by Khalil in the Journal Fuel, where he demonstrated the utility of these non-toxic earth-abundant materials on the desulfurization of thiophene; a highly useful determinant in the desulfurization of heavy oils to generate sulfur free diesel fuel.