Synthesis of crystalline Tellurium nanowires by thin film fabrication via thermal evaporation method

Tellurium nanostructures have attracted much interest due to their interesting properties such as gas sensing, photoconductivity, nonlinear optical response, and high thermoelectric or piezoelectric responses. Crystalline Tellurium nanowires were successfully synthesized at 10-1 mbar, 10-2 mbar, and 10-3 mbar pressures by thin film fabrication via evaporation of Tellurium powder and its condensation on glass substrates at different temperatures in a tube furnace. The morphology and size of the products were studied using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The synthesized nanowires have diameters between 46 and 100 nm and lengths up to several micrometers. X-Ray diffractometry (XRD) was carried out to characterize crystal structure of the products. The peaks of the diffractogram were successfully indexed assuming the hexagonal crystal structure of Tellurium.