Surfactant-free hydrothermal synthesis of CePO^sub 4^ microbundles assembled by aligned nanorods

In this research, CePO4 microbundles composed of aligned nanorods have been successfully synthesized through a facile surfactant-free hydrothermal route. The whole synthetic process was rather simple and green. And different synthetic parameters including the aging time and acidic strength were investigated such to understand the formation of the novel hierarchical microarchitectures. It was found that the hydrothermal time, as well as the acidic strength of the precursor media played a key role in mediating the assembly of one-dimensional micrcobundles from initially formed nanorods. Based on a series of experimental observations, a 'precipitation-growth' mechanism is proposed to describe the growth of the unique microstructures.