Facile synthesis of aqueous-dispersed luminescent nanosheets from non-layered lanthanum hexaboride

Two-dimensional nanosheets of non-layered materials have been considered as inaccessible through exfoliation techniques, due to their intrinsic three-dimensional lattice structure. Herein we report the successful synthesis of nanosheets from non-layered, lanthanum hexaboride through a facile, solution-assisted, surfactant-free, sonication. The morphological studies clearly show the presence of nanosheets having thickness of a few nanometers, and having lateral dimensions of several hundreds of nanometres. The as-fabricated nanosheets were found to be rich in hydroxyl groups, and hence exhibit excellent dispersion stability in water. The aqueous-dispersed nanosheets demonstrate excitation-wavelength dependent luminescence in the blue-cyan region, when excited with UV-light.