Morphological control of MnSe2/Se nanocomposites by amount of hydrazine through a hydrothermal process

•MnSe2/Se nanocomposites were synthesized through a hydrothermal process.•SeCl4 and MnCl2·4H2O were used as starting materials.•PEG 600 and hydrazine were used as surfactant and reductant, respectively.•MnSe2/Se cubic composites coated with thousands of nanorods were synthesized.•Amount of hydrazine plays an important role in the morphology control of products.

MnSe2/Se nanocomposites have been successfully synthesized through a hydrothermal process by using SeCl4 and MnCl2·4H2O as starting materials, in presence of polyethylene glycol 600 (PEG 600) and hydrazine (N2H4·H2O) as surfactant and reductant, respectively. It was found that hydrazine concentration has significant effect on morphology and phase of the final products. The possible formation mechanism of different morphologies was briefly proposed. This work has provided a general, simple, and effective method to control the composition, phase structure and morphology of metal selenides in aqueous solution, which will be important for inorganic synthesis methodology and further applications of selenides.

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