Synthesis of single-crystalline CeB6 nanowires

A self-catalyst metal–gas reaction method for the synthesis of cerium hexaboride (CeB6) nanostructures was presented. Large-scale CeB6 nanowires have successfully been fabricated with self-catalyst method using Ce powders and boron trichloride (BCl3) gas mixed with hydrogen and argon. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) were used to characterize the structures, morphologies and compositions of the samples. Our results show that CeB6 nanowires have a diameter around 20–100 nm and the length extending to several micrometers. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) reveals that CeB6 nanowires are single crystals with cubic structure. Our investigation forms part of a series of studies for finding comparatively inexpensive method to prepare RB6 nanomaterials.