Large-scale synthesis and growth habit of 3-D flower-like crystal of PbTe

In this paper, 3-D flower-like crystal of PbTe was successfully synthesized using Pb(CH3COO)(2) center dot 3H(2)0 and Na2TeO3 as precursors under hydrothermal conditions, and characterized by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction pattern (XRD). The reaction parameters that influenced the evolution of PbTe synthesis and morphology were investigated. It was shown that the flower-like crystal of PbTe was composed of a nucleus with eight pods. A possible growth mechanism was proposed based on the calculation of the surface energies of PbTe and the SEM observation. Furthermore, the temperature-dependent transport properties of 3-D flower-like crystal of PbTe specimen have been evaluated with an average thermoelectric power of 120 S cm(-1) and electrical conductivity of 220 mu V K-1 at 740 K. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.