Synthesis of ultrafine Gd₂O₃ nanoparticles inside single-wall carbon nanohorns

The large diameter of single-wall carbon nanohorns (SWNHs) allows various molecules to be easily incorporated in hollow nanospaces. In this report, we prove that the nanospaces of SWNHs even work as the chemical reaction field at high temperature; that is, Gd-acetate clusters inside SWNHs were transformed into ultrafine Gd₂O₃ nanoparticles with their particle size retained even after heat-treatment at 700°C. This indicates that the confinement of the Gd-acetate clusters in a deep potential well of the SWNH nanospaces prevented a migration to form larger particles, giving rise to ultrafine Gd₂O₃ nanoparticles of 2.3 nm in average diameter, which is much smaller than the case without SWNHs. The Gd ₂O₃ nanoparticles thus obtained were demonstrated to be actually useful to the magnetic resonance imaging. We believe that the presented effectiveness of the inner hollow spaces of SWNHs, therefore, also those of the carbon nanotubes, for high-temperature chemical reactions should be highlighted, and that the thus produced novel nanomaterials are promising to expand the fields of nanoscience.