Vertically aligned nanorods of lanthanum hexaboride with efficient field emission properties

The present study describes a borothermal reduction process to obtain nanostructured lanthanum hexaboride (LaB6) particles and their films. The morphology (nanorods and nanoparticles) of the boride nanostructures could be controlled by using a lanthanum hydroxide precursor (with controlled shape and size) obtained by a microemulsion mediated process. The LaB6 films fabricated by spin coating of nanorods of LaB6 led to an assembly of vertically oriented nanorods with excellent field emission properties (field enhancement factor of 4522). This methodology does not require any template for obtaining these vertically aligned nanorods. The field emission properties can be tuned by controlling the shape and size of the lanthanum hexaboride nanostructures.