Rare-earth oxide nanostructures: rules of rare-earth nitrate thermolysis in octadecylamine.

The decomposed regularity of rare-earth nitrates in octadecylamine (ODA) is discussed. The experimental results show that these nitrates can be divided into four types. For rare-earth nitrates with larger RE(3+) ions (RE=rare earth, La, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd), the decomposed products exhibited platelike nanostructures. For those with smaller RE(3+) ions (RE=Y, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb), the decomposed products exhibited beltlike nanostructures. For terbium nitrate with a middle RE(3+) ion, the decomposed product exhibited a rodlike nanostructure. The corresponding rare-earth oxides, with the same morphologies as their precursors, could be obtained when these decomposed products were calcined. For cerium nitrate, which showed the greatest differences, flowerlike cerium oxide could be obtained directly from decomposition of the nitrate without further calcination. This regularity is explained on the basis of the lanthanide contraction. Owing to their differences in electron configuration, ionic radius, and crystal structure, such a nitrate family therefore shows different thermolysis properties. In addition, the potential application of these as-obtained rare-earth oxides as catalysts and luminescent materials was investigated. The advantages of this method for rare-earth oxides includes simplicity, high yield, low cost, and ease of scale-up, which are of great importance for their industrial applications.