Tuning of the aspect ratio of SnSe nanorods: A rapid and facile microemulsion templated approach

Recently, tin selenides have attracted considerable attention as an environmental friendly alternative to Cd and Pb based optoelectronic materials. Considering the meticulous procedures involved in the synthesis of fin selenide 1D nanostructures reported fill date, we present here a rapid and highly facile approach for their formation, wherein a ternary water-in-oil microemulsion system (AOT (Aerosol-OT)/iso-octane/water) acts as a template. Various characterization studies confirmed the formation of crystallized nanorods of fin selenide with stoichiometric ratio of Sn:Se. Importantly, the dimensions of the nanorods can be conveniently tuned by simply varying the amount of water (W-0) of the microemulsions. This was evident from the formation of predominantly uniform size nanorods with an aspect ratio of similar to 28 in microemulsions with lower W(0)values (<= 10). On the contrary, primarily nanospheres were formed accompanied with fewer nanorods of lower aspect ratio (similar to 12) in case of microemulsions with W-0 >= 15. Moreover, this trend was also reflected in the UV-Vis absorption spectra. The plausible mechanism behind the formation of SnSe nanorods has been explained by taking into account the structural heterogeneity and the dynamic nature of the microemulsions.