Facile synthesis and transformation of Te nanorods to CdTe nanoparticles

Luminescent cadmium telluride nanoparticles were synthesized from the reaction intermediate tellurium nanorods as tellurium source at 100 °C through colloidal approach. Oxyanion source of tellurium, (i.e.) potassium tellurite (K2TeO3) was used as precursor to synthesize the tellurium nanorods under the low temperature process without any surfactant in various volumes of water. Thioglycolic acid (TGA) was employed as capping agent for the synthesis of CdTe nanoparticles. Absorption and emission spectra of the prepared nanoparticles clearly indicate the size dependent nature of the particles. SEM and EDX analyses of the nanorods reveal the shape of the synthesized nanorods and the presence of elemental tellurium without any impurities. XRD analysis of the prepared samples confirms the existence of trigonal phase of tellurium nanorods (t-Te) and the formation of CdTe particles with cubic zincblende structure. The size distribution of the prepared CdTe nanoparticles was analyzed through TEM analysis. It was found that considerable influence of solvent on morphology of the synthesized tellurium nanorods. The synthesis mechanism of one dimensional structure as seeds for zero dimensional nanoparticles was analyzed.