Synthesis and Characterization of High-Purity Tellurium Nanowires via Self-seed-Assisted Growth Approach

Nanowires have attracted intense attention in recent years due to their novel physical properties. In this work, we prepare high-purity tellurium nanowires through the self-seed-assisted growth method previously developed by us. The tellurium seeds were firstly synthesized by reducing Na2TeO3 in the ice water with NaBH4. The high-purity tellurium nanowires with a diameter of 40–50 nm and a length of several tens of micrometers were then grown on tellurium seeds by reducing Na2TeO3 with hydrazine hydrate. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy were employed to characterize the crystal structure, microstructure, and growth direction of tellurium seeds and nanowires. The effects of temperature, time, surfactant and tellurium seeds on microstructures of tellurium nanowires has also been investigated. The synthesis conditions of tellurium seeds and nanowires was optimized. The selected area electron diffraction pattern confirms that the growth direction of tellurium nanowires is parallel to [0001] direction. It was discovered that high-purity tellurium nanowires with high aspect ratio can be synthesized by precisely controlling the temperature to adjust the nucleation rate of the tellurium nuclei, selecting the appropriate surfactant to induce the coordination along the macromolecular chain, and using tellurium seeds as the templates of the epitaxial growth of tellurium nuclei.