Catalytic chemiluminescence properties of boehmite "nanococoons"

There have been great interest in constructing advanced nanostructures due to the potential profit of achieving nanodevices with interesting properties; much effort has been devoted to combining biology and nanotechnology to synthesize superstructures, in shapes of higher complexity than those of low-dimensional nanostructures. The advanced nanostructures can function from sensing to emitting light or storing information. Here the authors demonstrate the self-organization of boehmite nanorods into the cocoonlike nanostructures by using glycine as reactant. The growth mechanism is described. The boehmite (gamma-AlOOH) nanococoons exhibit excellent sensitivity to ethanol vapor with rapid, stable, and reversible characteristics as catalytic chemiluminescence nanosensors. (C) 2007 American Institute of Physics.