Template-free synthesis of vertically oriented tellurium nanowires via a galvanic displacement reaction

The scalable, high-throughput, cost-effective synthesis of high-quality tetragonal tellurium (t-Te) nanowires by the galvanic displacement reaction of Si on a 4-in. Si wafer is demonstrated. This method does not require any heterogeneous seeds, physical templates, or surfactants. In addition, because seed nucleation and growth are both instantaneous, the synthesized nanowires had uniform lengths across the substrate. Furthermore, the effects of the deposition conditions, including the solution composition and reaction time and temperature, on the morphologies, dimensions, and crystallinities of the Te nanowires were analyzed to investigate the growth mechanism. The synthesized t-Te nanowires exhibited excellent piezoelectric properties, with the output current being as high as −75.0 nA.