Controllable synthesis and self-assembly of PbCO3nanorods in shape-dependent nonionic w/o microemulsions

Abstract

Microemulsion-based synthesis of inorganic nanoparticles is a versatile method, where many parameters can be varied to control the properties of products. In this work, solely by modifying the morphology of nonionic reverse microemulsions from spheres to cylinders, while keeping the water-to-surfactant ratio (W/S), salt concentration, volume fraction of surfactants, and temperature constant, we successfully controlled the variation of the length of PbCO₃ nanorods with the same diameter. Short nanorods are formed in the spherical microemulsions, while long nanorods are produced in the cylindrical microemulsions. In addition, an amorphous-to-amorphous transformation from spherical nanoparticles to nanorods is observed and nanorods self-assemble into one-dimensional chains in the microemulsion solution.