Large-scale synthesis of antimony nanobelt bundles

The large-scale synthesis of antimony nanobelt bundles has been facilely realized in existence of polyethylene glycol (PEG) by a hydrothermal reduction method using aluminum powder as reducing agent. These nanobelts have width in the range of 200-600 nm and length up to several micrometres, and the width-to-thickness ratio is ca. 10. FESEM images show individual nanobelts have multi-layered structures. The size of nanobelts can be varied by adjusting the molecular weights of PEG. Based on a series of comparative experiments under different reaction conditions, the probable formation mechanism of antimony nanobelt bundles is proposed to be a solid-liquid-solid transformation and surfactant-assisted directional growth process. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.