Photocatalytic properties of shape-controlled ultra-long elemental Te nanowires synthesized via a facile hydrothermal method

•Synthesis of high-quality ultra-long Te nanowires by a hydrothermal method.•Analysis of structural and optical properties.•Photocatalytic studies of as-synthesized Te nanowires.

Herein, we report the synthesis of high-quality, shape-controlled, single crystalline, ultra-long Te nanowires (NWs) via a facile hydrothermal method. Based on micro-structural investigation, the most preferential growth direction of as-grown Te NWs was found to be along the c-axis. The as-synthesized Te NWs acted as potential catalysts to efficiently decompose organic toluidine blue O (TBO) dye (95%) within 1 h under ultraviolet (UV) light irradiation at room temperature. Additionally, when compared with the bulk form, ultra-long Te absorbs not only UV light, but also visible light at ~720 nm, indicating that ultra-long Te NWs may be able to utilize the full solar spectrum with a further decrease in size.