Fengjun Shi

From Al4B2O9 nanorods to AlOOH (boehmite) hierarchical nanoarchitectures

Complex hierarchical nanoarchitectures of AlOOH (boehmite) have been synthesized from the prefabricated Al4B2O9 nanorods based on a hydrothermal self-assembled process without employing any templates/substrates or surfactants. XRD patterns, SEM and TEM images were used to characterize the products. The boehmite nanostructures which exhibit two hierarchies are built by small crystal strips that contain even smaller one-dimensional nanorods. The length of the small crystal strips is about 2 µm and their diameter is about 100 nm in the middle section. Our investigation shows that the Al4B2O9 nanorods could separate the process of nucleation and growth, which is favoured for the formation of the hierarchical self-assembled nanoarchitectures. The growth mechanism has been proposed by the detailed microscopy observations. The thermal stability of the Al4B2O9 nanorods under hydrothermal conditions has also been discussed.