Te/carbon and Se/carbon nanocables: Size-controlled in situ hydrothermal synthesis and applications in preparing metal M/carbon nanocables (M = tellurides and selenides)

In this paper, Te/carbon nanocables with tunable diameters and lengths have been synthesized via a simple in situ hydrothermal reduction-carbonization route by using Na2TeO3 as the Te resource and vitamin C as the reduction agent and carbon source. At the same time, this synthetic route can be used to prepare Sell carbon nanocables when Na2SeO3 takes the place of Na2TeO3, Using these presynthesized Te (or Se)/carbon nanocables as self-templates, M/carbon nanocables (M = metal tellurides and selenides) could be conveniently synthesized via reacting these Te (or Se)/carbon nanocables and metal salts under mild hydrothermal conditions. A reduction-carbonization growth mechanism for the present Te (or Se) nanocables and a template-assisted oriented attachment mechanism for the tellurides (or selenides)/carbon nanocables were proposed, respectively. In addition, these as-synthesized nanocables have one layer of hydrophilic, organic-group-loaded surfaces. The functional groups loaded on the carbonaceous sheaths have high chemical activity, which could be noble metal ions (such as Pd2+, Ag+, and Au3+) reduced to elements.