Tris(8-hydroxyquinoline)aluminum nanoribbons: facile solvothermal preparation and photoconductivity studies

Large-scale, high-purity and uniform tris(8-hydroxyquinoline)aluminium nanoribbons, with average width of 120 nm, thickness of 30 nm, and length up to tens of micrometers, are synthesized via a facile solvothermal route. X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectrum, and thermogravimetric analysis--differential thermal analysis are employed to characterize the morphology and structure of the as-prepared products. The excellent photosensitivity and photoresponse of a bundle of nanoribbons are also investigated, which showed that the photoconductivity enhanced by 50 times under irradiation of an incandescence lamp (12 V, 10 W). This work might be useful in the fabrication of photosensor and photoswitch microdevices or nanodevices in the future.