Enhanced growth of tellurium nanowires under conditions of macromolecular crowding

An unprecedented rate enhancement was observed in the wet-chemical synthesis of tellurium nanowires under crowded conditions of inert macromolecules. The synthesis was carried out at 105 °C using solutions of sodium tellurite (Na 2 TeO 3 ) as a precursor, hydrazine (N 2 H 4 ) as a reducing agent, an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical chemistry chemical physics : PCCP 2017-06, Vol.19 (25), p.16477-16484
Main Authors: Hunyadi, Mátyás, Gácsi, Zoltán, Csarnovics, István, Csige, Lóránt, Csik, Attila, Daróczi, Lajos, Huszánk, Róbert, Sz cs, Zoltán
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Crowding
Hydrazines
Macromolecules
Morphology
Nanowires
Sodium
Synthesis
Tellurium
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Summary:An unprecedented rate enhancement was observed in the wet-chemical synthesis of tellurium nanowires under crowded conditions of inert macromolecules. The synthesis was carried out at 105 °C using solutions of sodium tellurite (Na 2 TeO 3 ) as a precursor, hydrazine (N 2 H 4 ) as a reducing agent, and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as both a stabilizing and crowding agent. The PVP concentration was systematically varied between the dilute and crowding regimes up to 166 g l −1 . The growth of the nanowires was monitored by measuring their size-dependent optical properties in the UV-Vis spectrum characterizing the size and morphology evolution of the nanowires and a coexisting phase of amorphous tellurium nanoparticles. The observed growth characteristics were interpreted in terms of non-specific structural organization of the crowded media due to the entropic-driven effects of space compartmentalization. The time-evolution of the mean excitonic wavelength demonstrating the enhanced ripening and growth rates of tellurium nanowires at increasing concentrations of the PVP crowder.
ISSN:1463-9076
1463-9084
DOI:10.1039/c7cp01011g