Controlled synthesis of trigonal selenium crystals with different morphologies

By using t-Se powders and NaOH as starting materials, t-Se aligned microrod bundles, microtubes and dendrites were successfully grown through a reversible chemical reacting process under hydrothermal conditions. It is found that the quantity of MnCl2·4H2O, which served as the antalkali agent to control the reversible reaction, plays important roles in the morphology control of the final t-Se products. The possible mechanism of the formation of different morphologies was briefly discussed.