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 Sb 2 O 3 nanorods and nanowires into well-defined complex nanostructures is described in this paper. It is demonstrated that at the temperature of 40 °C, the Sb 2 O 3 nanorods with different lengths (2∼50 μm) and diameters (20∼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 °C, the Sb 2 O 3 nanowires with diameter of 10∼30 nm would radially self-assemble into nanobelts with hundreds of micrometers in length, typically 400∼1000 nm in width and 20∼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.