A facile hydrothermal route to synthesize novel PbI 2 nanorods

We report the synthesis of PbI 2 nanorods by reacting lead acetate with elemental iodine at room temperature by virtue of a wet chemical method at mild reactions. The diameters of the obtained PbI 2 nanorods are about 54 nm. The present technique may open a new doorway to one-dimensional nanosized rods from the same kind of materials with irregular shape or large size. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared analysis (FTIR), ultraviolet-visible-near infrared analysis (UV-vis-NIR), photoluminescence measurements (PL) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to characterize PbI 2 nanorods. The as obtained products were analyzed by X-ray powder diffraction, which confirms the formation of solid PbI 2 nanorods. From the UV-vis-NIR studies the band gap of PbI 2 nanorod was estimated. The various functional groups present in the PbI 2 nanorods were identified by FTIR analysis. Intense photoluminescence was also observed with some spectral tuning possibly giving a range of emission photon energies approximately spanning from 2.1 to 3.5 eV. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.