Hydrothermal synthesis of nano-crystalline BaMoO₄under mild conditions using simple additive

Large-scale high-quality BaMoO4 nanocrystals have been synthesized in aqueous solutions under mild conditions with citrate as a simple additive. The crystals have bone-like, spindle-like and wheatear-like morphologies assembled from nanoparticles, nanofibers and have been characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques. The results showed that experimental parameters had great influences on the shape evolution of products. The adjustment of these parameters such as room temperature stirring time, reaction temperature and reaction time of hydrothermal reaction, can lead to obvious morphology changes of products, and the growth mechanism has been proposed. Room-temperature photoluminescence indicated that the as-prepared BaMoO4 nanocrystals had a strong blue emission peak at 481.5 nm. This facile route could be employed to synthesize more promising nanomaterials with interesting self-assembly structures. (C) 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim