Synthesis and electrochemical behavior of crystalline Ag2Se nanotubes

A novel chemical method has been developed for the preparation of crystalline nanotubes of silver selenide (Ag2Se). The method is based on the template-engaged synthesis in which the trigonal Se nanotubes as-prepared were used as template reagent. The products were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), ultraviolet (UV) analysis, photoluminescence (PL) analysis, differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) analysis, and thermogravimetric (TG) analysis. Based on a series of experiments and characterizations, the formation mechanism of the Ag2Se nanotubes was proposed. Furthermore, the useful electrochemical behavior of the Ag2Se nanotubes was studied by the voltammetric technique.