Controlled synthesis of manganese oxohydroxide (MnOOH) and Mn3O4 nanorods using novel reverse micelles

Novel reverse micelles of high CTAB concentration were successfully developed to synthesize MnOOH (manganese oxyhydroxide) nanorods with uniform diameters of about 10 nm and up to 200 nm in length under mild solution conditions and Mn3O4 nanorods with the same morphology could be obtained by calcining the precursors at 450 degrees C. The morphology and microstructure of the nanorods were investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM and HRTEM), XRD and TGA. The results showed that the concentration of CTAB was a key factor for the formation of MnOOH nanorods and only above 0.2 M the nanorods could be obtained. Moreover, the length of nanorods increased with the increase of CTAB concentration, while the diameter of nanorods retained steadily. In this way, the length of nanorods could be easily controlled from tens nanometers to hundreds nanometers by increasing the CTAB concentration from 0.35 M to 1.25 M. In addition, in our experiment the products were almost entirely rod-like shape, which indicated this method should be suitable for mass-producing.