Aqueous chemical synthesis of tellurium nanowires using a polymeric template for thermoelectric materials. Issue 5 (16th December 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Park, Hongkwan; Son, Woohyun; Lee, Seung Hwan; Kim, Soyeon; Lee, Jung Joon; Cho, Wonseok; Choi, Hyang Hee; Kim, Jung Hyun
• Is Part Of: CrystEngComm. Volume 17:Issue 5(2015)
• Page Start: 1092
• Page End: 1097
• Publication Date: 2014-12-16
• Subjects: Crystals -- Periodicals; Crystal growth -- Periodicals; Crystallography -- Periodicals; Cristaux -- Périodiques; Cristaux -- Croissance -- Périodiques; Cristallographie -- Périodiques; 548
• DOI: 10.1039/c4ce02222j
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1466-8033

Abstract

Abstract : Tellurium nanowires with controllable shapes and thermoelectric properties were synthesized by a polymeric template-assisted hydrothermal method. Abstract : We report the simple synthesis of tellurium nanowires (TeNWs) by a one-pot scale-up hydrothermal process. A clean wet-chemical method, employing telluric acid (Te(OH)6 ) as a source of tellurium, ascorbic acid as a weak reducing agent, and a linear polymer as a template, has been developed for the synthesis of TeNWs with a diameter of 30–140 nm and a length of several micrometers at 105 °C. A possible explanation for the one-dimensional growth of TeNWs is the linear polymer template. The effects of the concentration of the polymeric template on the nanowire morphology were investigated. Evaluation of the thermoelectric properties indicated a high Seebeck coefficient and a power factor of about 568 μV K −1 and 8.44 μW mK −2, respectively, of the optimized TeNW films, and these values were about 80 times larger than those of the TeNW films formed without a polymeric template. We expect this simple process to be widely applicable for large-scale production of one-dimensional inorganic nanomaterials for energy harvesting and electronic devices.