Synthesis of Tb(OH)3 nanowire arrays via a facile template-assisted hydrothermal approach

Hexagonal wurtzite structure Tb(OH)(3) nanowires with a uniform diameter of about 70-80 nm and lengths of up to several micrometres have been synthesized on a large scale via a hydrothermal treatment based oil the use Of an anodic aluminium membrane as the template. Aligned Tb(OH)(3) nanowire arrays can be obtained by dissolving the template. Field emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, high resolution transmission electron microscopy, selected area electron diffraction, x-ray diffraction, and photoluminescence (PL) spectra have been employed to characterize the as-prepared samples. The PL spectrum of Tb(OH)(3) under 350 nm excitation consists of four main peaks at 489.9, 543, 584 and 621 nm, among which that for the electric dipole transition D-5(4) to F-7(5) (at 543 nm) is the strongest. Furthermore, a preliminary suggestion for the mechanism of growth of the Tb(OH)(3) nanowires using the hydrothermal-template synthesis technique has been proposed.