Nanoscale magnesium hydroxide and magnesium oxide powders: Control over size, shape, and structure via hydrothermal synthesis

Mg(OH)(2) nanocrystallines with rod-, tube-, needle-, or lamella-like morphologies have been synthesized by a hydrothermal reaction using different magnesium precursors and solvents as the reactants. The products appeared to have narrow size distributions with a monodisperse nature. Subsequent thermal decomposition at 450 degreesC gave nanosized MgO, which preserved well the morphological features of the Mg(OH)2 samples. The specific surface areas of the MgO samples were determined by the BET technique, which gave a feature of high surface area generally larger than 100 m(2)/g. The channels formed in the thermal dehydroxylation process may account for this feature of the MgO nanocrystallines.