Template-free synthesis of vertically oriented tellurium nanowires viaa galvanic displacement reaction

The scalable, high-throughput, cost-effective synthesis of high-quality tetragonal tellurium (t-Te)nanowires by the galvanic displacement reaction of Si on a 4-in. Si wafer is demonstrated. This methoddoes not require any heterogeneous seeds, physical templates, or surfactants. In addition, because seednucleation and growth are both instantaneous, the synthesized nanowires had uniform lengths across thesubstrate. Furthermore, the effects of the deposition conditions, including the solution composition andreaction time and temperature, on the morphologies, dimensions, and crystallinities of the Te nanowireswere analyzed to investigate the growth mechanism. The synthesized t-Te nanowires exhibited excellentpiezoelectric properties, with the output current being as high as -75.0 nA.