Zr/ZrH2 particles with irregular morphologies and broad size distribution were uniformly coated with aci-cular α-FeOOH crystal grains via a facile route without using polymers or surfactants. The as-synthesized material was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), UV-vis diffusion reflection (UV-vis) and Raman spectrometry. Based on these char-acterizations, the synthesis mechanism was explained in terms of combined heterogeneous nucleation and solid state transformation reaction. The presence of α-FeOOH coating greatly changed the combustion behavior of Zr/ZrH2 particles: the combustion lasting time decreased from 32 s for un-coated Zr/ZrH2 par-ticles to 0.2 s for coated particles while the maximum temperature in the combustion process increased from 1510℃ to 2036℃.