Nanostructured PbTe compound synthesized by a simple chemical route

Binary PbTe nanopowders have been successfully synthesized by a reflux method at 100 °C using Pb(CH3COO)2 and pure tellurium as the precursors, and NaBH4 as the reductant. The powders synthesized at 100 °C for 48 h are about 100 nm in size. A number of globular particles of about 70 nm with distinct disorder were also observed for the powders synthesized at 100 °C for 24 h. Based on HRTEM observation, we consider that the structure is the intermediate state of the PbTe nanopowders during the synthesis. Possible formation mechanisms of PbTe were also discussed.