Solvothermal synthesis of ZnTe microspheres with enhanced light current

ZnTe microspheres with an average diameter of 600 nm are fabricated by a facile solvothermal method for the first time where each microsphere is composed of primary nanoparticles with a diameter of about 30 nm. In addition, photoelectric effect of a single ZnTe microsphere is studied by photo-assisted conductive atomic force microscopy. Both of I–V curves from the single ZnTe microsphere indicate that its light current has a steep increase under ultraviolet (UV) light and arrives up to 99.97 nA whereas the dark current is 3.37 nA. The enhancement of light current comes mainly from a significant photoelectron increasing, which will make such materials attractive in many applications such as solar cells, photocatalysts, etc.

► For the first time, ZnTe microspheres are successfully fabricated by solvothermal.
► Light current of single microsphere has a steep increase under ultraviolet light.
► The single ZnTe microspheres are expected to be applications in solar cells.
► The solvothermal used here is a facile, effective, reproducible method.