Surfactant induced colloidal growth and selective electrophoretic deposition of one-dimensional Te nanocrystals

• Tellurium nanoparticles with mixed nanostructure were synthesized in a facile, room temperature technique.
• Choice of surfactant facilitated the co-synthesis of spherical tellurium nanoparticles and elongated tellurium nanorods
• Electrophoretic deposition was able to selectively remove tellurium nanorods from stable methanolic suspensions of the nanomaterials.

Te nanorods mixed with Te nanoparticles were synthesized through a facile room temperature colloidal method in the presence of triethanolamine, acting as a surfactant. With quantities of triethanolamine≤3.0 mL, the nanorod-to-nanoparticle ratio increased as a function of the amount of triethanolamine while with 3.0 mL or more, only nanoparticles formed. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy measurements confirmed that this surfactant-dependent growth was induced by the selective liganding of OH and C–C–O groups in triethanolamine. This selective liganding facilitated the selective assembly of Te nanorods through room-temperature electrophoretic deposition.