Tellurium nanowire arrays synthesized by electrochemical and electrophoretic deposition

This article describes both electrochemical deposition and electrophoretic deposition of high-density tellurium (Te) nanowire arrays with wire diameters of 60 nm and lengths of 15–20 μm in the nanochannels of anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) templates. The Te nanowires synthesized via electrochemical deposition (ECD) are generally single crystalline in nature with the wire longitudinal axis along the [001] direction, whereas those synthesized via electrophoretic deposition (EPD) show polycrystalline structures with numerous tiny Te crystallites packed randomly in the wires. The single-crystalline Te nanowires produced by the ECD route are believed to form under a near chemical equilibrium condition; however, the imposed transport and the rapid packing of Te nanocrystallites in the nanochannels of AAO template in external fields lead to polycrystalline Te nanowires in the EPD process. This comparative study of the Te nanowire formation in the nanochannels of AAO template will facilitate the tailoring of the growth of other inorganic nanowires of high quality.