A new hydrothermal route to nano- and microstructures of trigonal selenium exhibiting diverse morphologies

High purity single crystalline trigonal selenium (t-Se) with different morphologies (wires, rods, flowerlike, and hollow spheres) have been synthesized under hydrothermal conditions through simple one-step at lower temperature (120 °C) using in situ generated sulphurous acid as a new reducing agent. It is noted that the experimental parameters such as reaction duration, temperature and surfactants have an effective and important influence on the formation of different morphologies. The phase analysis, purity, morphology and optical properties of the as obtained products have been characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and UV–vis spectroscopy, respectively. A possible reaction scheme as well as growth mechanism has been proposed for the formation of t-Se nanowires.