Surfactant induced colloidal growth and selective electrophoretic deposition of one-dimensional Te nanocrystals

•Tellurium nanoparticles with mixed nanostructure were synthesized in a facile, room temperature technique.•Choice of surfactant facilitated the co-synthesis of spherical tellurium nanoparticles and elongated tellurium nanorods•Electrophoretic deposition was able to selectively remove tellurium nanorods from stable methanolic suspensions of the nanomaterials.

Te nanorods mixed with Te nanoparticles were synthesized through a facile room temperature colloidal method in the presence of triethanolamine, acting as a surfactant. With quantities of triethanolamine≤3.0 mL, the nanorod-to-nanoparticle ratio increased as a function of the amount of triethanolamine while with 3.0 mL or more, only nanoparticles formed. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy measurements confirmed that this surfactant-dependent growth was induced by the selective liganding of OH and C–C–O groups in triethanolamine. This selective liganding facilitated the selective assembly of Te nanorods through room-temperature electrophoretic deposition.