Hydrothermal synthesis of PbSe, PbTe semiconductor nanocrystals

Hydrothermal reaction of selenium or tellurium with lead acetate in sodium hydroxide solution in the presence of hydrazine hydrate as a reductive was investigated to prepare lead chalcogenides, PbE (E = Se, Te). Nanocrystals with different morphology could be obtained under mild conditions. Our experiment shows that source materials and reaction temperature play important roles in forming the objective products and controlling their morphologies. The formation of lead chalcogenides in our process is based on a direct elemental combination pathway. The products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.