Orientated attachment assisted self-assembly of Sb2O3 nanorods and nanowires:: End-to-end versus side-by-side

A facile template-free aqueous solution strategy of oriented attachment assisted self-assembly of Sb2O3 nanorods and nanowires into well-defined complex nanostructures is described in this paper. It is demonstrated that at the temperature of 40 degrees C, the Sb2O3 nanorods with different lengths (2 similar to 50 mu m) and diameters (20 similar to 1000 nm) would axially self-assemble into multisegmented coaxial nanowires by an oriented attachment assisted end-to-end self-assembly process. At the temperature of 80 degrees C, the Sb2O3 nanowires with diameter of 10 similar to 30 nm would radially self-assemble into nanobelts with hundreds of micrometers in length, typically 400 similar to 1000 nm in width and 20 similar to 60 nm in thickness by an oriented attachment assisted side-by-side self-assembly process. The obtained self-assembled nanostructures were analyzed by a series of methods such as XRD, SEM, EDX, TEM, SAED, HRTEM, and photoluminescence. The formation mechanism of the obtained nanostructures was discussed. The oriented attachment assisted self-assembly strategy we presented here may open a new avenue for the controllable self-assembly of nanorods and nanowires into unique complex nanostructured materials.