Selenium Nanoparticles Synthesized via a Facile Hydrothermal Method

2012

Crystalline selenium nanostructures were synthesized from the reaction of a GeSe3 glass with water at 85°C for 144 hours. The hydrolysis of the Ge-Se bonds releases Se fragments in the solution where they form a colloidal suspension of amorphous nanospheres. The later evolve toward a more stable hexagonal phase (trigonal) leading to the anisotropic growth of one-dimensional monocrystalline structures. Filaments, bars and tubes of monocrystalline trigonal selenium were obtained with diameters ranging from 10 nm to 1 µm and aspect ratio up to 180. This simple process in aqueous solution opens new perspectives for the synthesis of 1D nanoparticles of trigonal selenium at large scale.