Facile synthesis of coordination polymer nanocubes and their conversion into mesoporous single crystal-like Y203 nanocubes

Mesoporous single crystal-like Y₂O₃ nanocubes have been prepared through a coordination-based selfassembly process. Firstly, a uniform nanocube-like Y-lysine precursor was simply prepared with hydrothermal treatment. After the simple thermal treatment process, nanocube-shaped yttrium oxides with the morphology inherited from the Y-lysine precursor were successfully prepared. The phase, morphology, size and crystalline structure were well characterized by XRD, SEM and TEM. N₂ adsorption-desorption demonstrates the mesoporous characteristics of the Y₂O₃ nanocubes, showing a relatively high surface area of 60 m²/g.