Facile synthesis of coordination polymer nanocubes and their conversion into mesoporous single crystal-like Y2O3 nanocubes

Mesoporous single crystal-like Y 2 O 3 nanocubes have been prepared through a coordination-based self-assembly 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. N 2 adsorption–desorption demonstrates the mesoporous characteristics of the Y 2 O 3 nanocubes, showing a relatively high surface area of 60   m 2 /g.