Controllable synthesis of rice-shape Alq3 nanoparticles with single crystal structure

•Controllable growth of rice-shape nanoparticles of Alq3.•The formation mechanism has been proposed.•The nanoparticles have single crystal structures.•Field emission performances (turn-on field 7 V μm−1, maximum current density 2.9 mA cm−2).•The facile method can be transfer to other organic nanostructures.

We report the controllable growth of rice-shape nanoparticles of Alq3 by an extremely facile self-assembly approach. Possible mechanisms have been proposed to interpret the formation and controlled process of the single crystal nanoparticles. The field-emission performances (turn-on field 7 V μm−1, maximum current density 2.9 mA cm−2) indicate the potential application on miniaturized nano-optoelectronics devices of Alq3-based. This facile method can potentially be used for the controlled synthesis of other functional complexes and organic nanostructures.

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