Hydrothermal synthesis and characterization of hierarchically nanostructured La2(MoO4)3

•La2(MoO4)3 with the hierarchical nanostructure consisted of nanosheets.•The hydrothermal method was applied to the synthesis of La2(MoO4)3.•Potassium sodium tartrate was used as the additive.•Influences of heating times on the products were also investigated.

In this study, we report a hydrothermal method for the preparation of La2(MoO4)3 with a hierarchical nanostructure consisted of nanosheets. The influences of heating times on the products were also investigated. The products were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The potassium sodium tartrate plays a key role in the formation of hierarchical nanostructures. The potassium sodium tartrate was used as a chelating ligand and a template molecule in the synthesis and self-assembly of nanosheets. In view of experimental results, a possible formation mechanism of these hierarchical nanostructures in the growth processes was proposed. This synthetic strategy was also successfully applied to fabricate KNd(MoO4)2 with the hierarchical nanostructure.