Oriented assemblies of tantalum boride nanowire bundles and their luminescent property

Oriented assemblies of tantalum boride (TaB) nanowire bundles have been synthesised via a controlled thermal process. The products were characterised with scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and spectrofluorometry. The results show that the as-prepared products are composed of nanowires with a diameter of 60-100-nm. According to the analysis on the reaction mechanism between Ta and BN, a possible formation mechanism of TaB nanowire bundles was proposed. The TaB nanowire bundles displayed an intensive violet photoluminescence emission at around 417-nm. The special structures of the oriented assemblies of TaB nanowires may have potential application in nanoelectronics and photonics.