One-atmosphere aqueous-solution synthesis of trimolybdate nanomaterials and the feasibility for mass production.

Mass production of low-cost functional nanomaterials is an important issue for the development of nanoscience and nanotechnology. With rich structural, physical and chemical properties, polyoxometalates are important functional materials for both industrial applications and fundamental research. We presented a family of alkali trimolybdate nanowires and nanorods that were synthesized by a one-atmosphere aqueous solution method from a mixture of two solutions, one consisting of (NH4)6Mo7O24 x 4H2O and the other of Li+, Na+, K+ and Rb+ ions, respectively.

Fabrication of nanochannels with water-dissolvable nanowires.

We report here a template method for the fabrication of nanochannels with water-dissolvable NaNH(4)Mo(3)O(10).H(2)O nanowires as the sacrificial material. By using these nanowires, which have diameters ranging from 20 to 150 nm and lengths up to a hundred microns, we have demonstrated that it is possible to obtain nanochannels with the desired shape of cross section, and desired types of channel material, such as metals and oxides.

Room temperature synthesis of K2Mo3O10x3H2O nanowires in minutes.

Polyoxometalates have been widely used in the fields of catalysis, analytical chemistry, biochemistry, medicine and synthesis of novel organic-inorganic materials. It is difficult to synthesize pure polymolybdate products from a solution because several kinds of molybdenum-based anions may coexist. As a result, varied acidification methods are commonly used for solution synthesis of polymolybdates.