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Controlled synthesis of multi-morphology Te crystals by a convenient Lewis acid/base-assisted solvothermal method

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Abstract

This paper reports on the controlled growth of multi-morphology Te crystals by a convenient Lewis acid/base-assisted solvothermal method for the first time. The morphological transformation from one-dimension (1D) nanostructures to 2D hierarchical flowerlike microarchitecture has been observed. The nanorods and nanowires with a well-defined crystallographical structure and the hierarchical flowers microarchitecture were obtained by changing the Lewis acids/bases. Lewis acids/bases were found to be crucial for the formation of the products by not only acting as the pH regulator but also as the shape controller, owing to their hydrolysis in the solvent to in situ form H+/OH− and hydrates. The results suggest that this should be an effective approach to the control the growth of t-Te crystals with interesting multiple morphologies, which are of interest for both theoretical investigations and practical applications.

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Acknowledgments

This study was partially supported by the Program for Science & Technology Innovation Talents in Universities of Henan Province (No. 2008 HASTIT002), Innovation Scientists and Technicians Troop Construction Projects of Henan Province (No. 094100510015), and by the Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 20971036 and 51102077, as well as the construct program of the key discipline in Hunan province (No. 2011-76).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Lab for Special Functional Materials of Ministry of Education, Henan University, Kaifeng, 475004, People’s Republic of China

    XiaoPing Wu, ShaoMin Zhou, ShiYun Lou, YongQiang Wang, Tao Gao, YuBiao Liu & XiaoJing Shi

  2. Department of Biology and Chemistry, Hunan University of Science and Engineering, Yongzhou, 425100, Hunan, People’s Republic of China

    Lin Yuan

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  1. XiaoPing Wu
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  2. Lin Yuan
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  3. ShaoMin Zhou
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Correspondence to ShaoMin Zhou.

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Wu, X., Yuan, L., Zhou, S. et al. Controlled synthesis of multi-morphology Te crystals by a convenient Lewis acid/base-assisted solvothermal method. J Nanopart Res 14, 1009 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-012-1009-z

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