Biomolecule-assisted reduction in the synthesis of single-crystalline tellurium nanowires

A simple and mild biomolecule-assisted reduction method is proposed for the synthesis of single crystal tellurium nanowires (see Figure). Alginic acid is directly utilized as an effective reductant and found to be a novel morphological directing agent for tellurium nanowires synthesized from commercial Telluric acid (H2TeO4) powders under hydrothermal conditions.