Amorphous FeOOH and alpha-FeOOH were synthesized by simple solvothermal methods and used as the reactants to prepare iron oxide-based cathode materials. Amorphous FeOOH transforms to alpha-Fe2O3 at temperatures as low as 80 degrees C, and is stable enough to avoid the transformation to alpha-LiFeO2 even at 200 degrees C in LiOH ethanol solution under solvothermal condition. alpha-FeOOH transforms to alpha-LiFeO2 in the same reaction system at 140 degrees C. Both alpha-Fe2O3 and alpha-LiFeO2 demonstrate good electrochemical performances, especially alpha-Fe2O3, which delivers a high reversible capacity (105 mAh/g at 100 mA/g after 50 cycles) in the voltage range from 1.5 to 4.5 V. The electrochemical performances of alpha-Fe2O3 were found to be influenced by the solvent, temperature, reaction duration and alkali concentration of the solvothermal reactions. It was found that ethanol solution, low temperature, and moderate reaction duration and alkali concentration lead to alpha-Fe2O3 with reversible capacity of about 100 mAh/g. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.