Abstract
Spontaneous transformation paths of nanomaterials point to guiding principles for synthesis. We describe the room temperature transformation of MgO nanocubes into Mg3(OH)5Cl·4H2O nanofibers in air and investigated the underlying formation mechanism using electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and solid-state NMR spectroscopy. Upon contact with water vapor, the magnesium hydroxide needles were found to grow out of agglomerates of highly dispersed MgO nanocubes with preadsorbed SiCl4. Corresponding one-dimensional nanostructures do not form on low surface area materials. The presented growth approach is potentially extendable to other hydrolyzable metal oxides at ultrafine dispersion.
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