Telluride semiconductor nanocrystals: progress on their liquid-phase synthesis and applications

The synthesis of colloidal telluride semiconductor nanocrystals (CT-SNCs) is more challenging than that of chalcogenides, due to the smaller electron affinity of tellurium than that of sulfur and selenium, which is attributed to its metalloid property. While some new potential strategies were developing with the increasing demand of CT-SNCs, the cation exchange reaction (CER) has particularly become a new strategy to synthesize high-quality CT-SNCs and their corresponded hetero-nanostructures. This review summarizes the synthesis strategies of CT-SNCs, including traditional methods and new methods with emphasis on CERs, and their resulting CT-SNCs with well-controlling size, shape, composition, crystallization and hetero-interfaces cooperatively. The progressive synthesis methods give rise to the excellent optical properties of CT-SNCs. This review also covers the recent progress of their applications in the field of photoelectric detection, catalysis, batteries and biology. The new hybrid CT-SNCs nanostructures are also emphasized and systematically discussed due to their enhanced properties. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]