Synthesis Of Samarium Oxychloride Nanoplates By Chemical Vapour Deposition

Samarium oxychloride (SmOCl) is a promising photocatalyst for environment remediation. It is difficult to form SmOCl nanoplate by sophisticated wet chemical techniques used to prepare other layer-structured rare earth oxychloride nanoplates. Here, we report the synthesis of SmOCl nanoplates by chemical vapour deposition (CVD). Transmission electron microscopy characterization reveals that the nanoplates are single crystalline SmOCl with exposed {001} facets. Two-dimensional growth of SmOCl nanoplates is improved by adding decaborane in the atmosphere of CVD system. The largest size of SmOCl nanoplates approaches similar to 5 mu m. The growth process of SmOCl nanoplates is studied. This result shows that CVD is a suitable method to grow large SmOCl nanoplates.