A novel chemical reduction method to fabricate tunable selenium nanosphere and nanobelt based on cellulose nanocrystals

Novel chemical reaction methods were utilized to prepare a nano-selenium based cellulose nanocrystal with tunable spherical or belted morphology. [Display omitted] •Tunable Se nanospheres and nanobelts were obtained using cellulose nanocrystal as template.•Se-Belt-12H showed higher crystallinity and thermal stability than those of Se-Sphere-12H.•The highest capacitance and the smallest internal resistance were found for Se-Belt-12H. A novel chemical reduction method was reported to prepare tunable spherical or belted morphologies of nano-selenium (Se) based on cellulose nanocrystal (CNC). The homogeneous Se nanospheres with size of about 36 nm can be found for Se-Sphere-12H by adding ascorbic acid (VC) as assisted reducing agent. The Se nanobelt with a length of about 800 nm can be observed for Se-Belt-12H through one-pot reaction of CNC with sodium selenite (Na2SeO3) under hydrothermal conditions. Moreover, Se-Belt-12H exhibited the higher crystallinity of 96.10% and maximum thermal degradation temperature (Tmax) of 479.4 °C, the highest capacitance and the smallest internal resistance.