Synthesis of tellurium nanostructures by physical vapor deposition and their growth mechanism

One-dimensional tellurium nanostructures have been prepared by thermal evaporation in a tubular furnace under argon gas flow at a pressure of 1 atm. The depositions were found to occur along the length of the quartz tube with microrods deposited at higher temperatures (350-400 degrees C) and nanotubes at lower temperatures (< 200 degrees C). It was observed that the growth of nanostructures is initiated by nucleation of spherical particles followed by growth of one-dimensional structures. Possible mechanisms for the growth of these nanostructures and the effect of source temperature on the structures obtained are discussed.