Synthesis and Characterization of Lanthanum Oxide Nanoparticles from Thermolysis of Nano-sized Lanthanum(III) Supramolecule as a Novel Precursor.

A new nano-sized La(III) supramolecular compound, [pyda.H][La(pydc)(HO)]·2HO ( 1), where [pyda.H] = 2,6-diaminopyridinium, and [pydc] = 2,6-pyridinedicarboxylate, was synthesized by the sonochemical method and characterized by field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and elemental analyses. Lanthanum oxide nanoparticles were prepared by direct thermal decomposition of 1 nanostructures in a programmable furnace up to 800 °C in ambient atmosphere. The structural characterization was performed by powder XRD; and, morphological observations by FESEM revealed that the quasi-spherical LaO nanoparticles obtained are well crystallized and uniform in both morphology and particle size. The study demonstrates that supramolecular compounds may be suitable precursors for the simple one-pot preparation of nanoscale metal oxide materials with different morphologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]