Controlled hydrothermal synthesis of tri-wing tellurium nanoribbons and their template reaction

Single crystalline tri-wing tellurium nanoribbons with well-defined outer surfaces and geometrical shapes are synthesized by a facile hydrothermal method in the presence of poly(vinyl alcohol) as the surfactant. The tri-wing Te nanoribbons with a length of tens of micrometres have a very thin wing structure with an average thickness about 20 nm. A two-step growth mechanism is proposed for the formation of tri-wing Te nanoribbons based on time dependent morphology evolution. By adjusting the pH value of the reaction solution, varied Te nanostructures including nanofeathers, nanobelts, tri-wing nanoribbons and nanorods are obtained, indicating that the reduction rate plays a key role in fabricating tri-wing Te nanoribbons since the pH value has a dramatic influence on the reduction reaction rate of TeO₃^2-. With tri-wing Te nanoribbons as the precursor and template, Ag₂Te nanoribbons in the same shape and similar size are synthesized through the direct reaction of Te with AgNO₃ at room temperature, demonstrating that the Te nanoribbons with a very thin tri-wing structure are ideal templates to synthesize other Te related nanocompounds.