Growth, structure and optical properties of tartaric acid-templated silica nanotubes by sol–gel method

Photoluminescent nano material has been reported as an intriguing field during the past few decades. In this article, tartaric-templated silica nanotubes were conveniently synthesized by sol–gel method. X-ray diffraction analysis, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, fourier transform infrared spectra and photoluminescence spectra analysis were employed to characterize the growth, structure, morphology and optical property of the products. It is found that tartaric templates can form spindle/spherical-like aggregates composed of many sheets under static/stirring condition, which lead to the different shapes of silica nanotubes. Then the probable strategies for silica nanotubes templating with tartaric acid were described particularly. Hydrogen-bond interaction, supramolecular interaction and a competition of various effects may be the reasons of the nanotubes formation. Moreover, under ultraviolet light excitation, the silica nanotubes exhibited blue emission and luminescent intensity of the tubes prepared under the static condition is much stronger than the stirring ones, mostly because of more defect centers in the structures obtained under stirring condition.