Hydrothermal preparation and characterization of based-alloy Bi2Te3 nanostructure with different morphology

In this paper, based-alloy Bi2Te3 nanostructure with different morphologies was synthesized by a hydrothermal process based on the reaction between Bi(NO3)3, TeCl4, and KBH4 in water at various conditions. The products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FT-IR), X-ray photoelectron spectrum and inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometer and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The result shows that the Bi2Te3 crystals have diameters ranging from 20 to 25 nm with high purity. Other factors, such as the reaction time, the different capping agent and the sort of reductant also have influence on the morphology of the final products to some extent. By variation of reductant, conversion rode-like to flower-like was obtained. Organic ligands play a manifold role in the formation of the chainlike nanostructures as both coordinate ligand and architecture template, and a possible formation mechanism is proposed.