Evolution of high specific surface area lanthanum aerogels to magnetic lanthanum hydroxide nanostructures

Lanthanum aerogels with high specific surface area up to 288 m 2 ·g −1 are synthesized by a modified sol-gel method combined with supercritical fluid ethanol drying. The lanthanum aerogels can be transformed into porous nanostructure composed of hexagonal La(OH) 3 crystal nanostructures with the specific surface area of 35 m 2 ·g −1 in large quantities after heat treatment at 600 °C in air. The room temperature magnetism of hexagonal La(OH) 3 crystal nanostructures is investigated by the density of states based on first-principles calculations. This work brings a promising route that can quickly produce lanthanum-based porous nanostructures in large quantities.