Hydrazine-cadmium tellurite hybrid microcrystals: An efficient precursor to porous cadmium telluride and tellurium architectures through its thermal decomposition

Well-defined platelet-like hydrazine-cadmium tellurite hybrid microcrystals have been synthesized by a solvothermal reaction of cadmium chloride, sodium tellurite, and hydrazine hydrate in a mixed solvent containing n-propylamine and deionized water. The formula of the hybrid platelet-like microcrystals has been proposed based on a combination of powder X-ray diffraction pattern (PXRD), elemental analysis, thermogravimetic analysis (TGA), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Controlled thermal decomposition of this hybrid precursor can lead to the formation of porous platelet-like microarchitectures. Pure porous cadmium telluride architectures were obtained by using hydrochloric acid to dissolve CdTeO3 remaining in the sample after thermal decomposition at 450A degrees C. In addition, unique nanoporous tellurium architectures were obtained by using hydrochloric acid to dissolve the amorphous Cd(N2H4)TeO3 formed after thermal decomposition at 300 A degrees C, followed by an in situ topotactic reaction between the residual three-dimensional (3-D) skeleton of cadmium telluride nanocrystallites s and TeO (3) (2-) . Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis and a study of the optical properties of these porous cadmium telluride and tellurium materials have also been carried out.