Sonochemical Synthesis of Nanocrystalline Silver Tellurides Ag2Te and Ag7Te4

In this paper, we report a simple and clean method of producing nanocrystalline silver tellurides in organic solvent systems by high-intensity ultrasonic irradiation at room temperature. Ag2Te and Ag7Te4 are prepared in an ethylenediamine system and an ethanol system, respectively. The products were mainly characterized by X-ray powder diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. The ultrasonic irradiation and the solvents are both important in the formation of products. The possible mechanism of the nanocrystalline Ag2Te formation in ethylene-diamine under high-intensity ultrasonic irradiation is also discussed.