Abstract
Single crystalline one-dimensional (1D) nanostructures of silver telluride (Ag2Te) with well-controlled shapes and sizes were synthesized via the hydrothermal reduction of sodium tellurite (Na2TeO3) in a mixed solution. The morphological evolution of various 1D nanostructures was mainly determined by properly controlling the nucleation and growth process of Ag2Te in different reaction times. Based on the transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy studies, the formation mechanism for these 1D nanostructures was rationally interpreted. In addition, the current–voltage (I-V) characteristics as a function of magnetic field of the highly single crystal Ag2Te nanowires were systematically measured. From the investigation of I-V characteristics, we have observed a rapid change of the current in low magnetic field, which can be used as the magnetic field sensor. The magneto-resistance behavior of the Ag2Te nanowires with monoclinic structure was also investigated. Comparing to the bulk and thin film materials, we found that there is generally a larger change in R (T) as the sample size is reduced, which indicates that the size of the sample has a certain impact on magneto-transport properties. Simultaneously, some possible reasons resulting in the observed large positive magneto-resistance behavior are discussed.
Highlights
During the past few decades, a shape-controlled synthesis of semiconducting crystals with well-defined morphologies, such as belts, wires, rods, tubes, spheres, sheets, combs, and cubes, has attracted considerable attention due to their novel properties and applications in many fields [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]
When the temperature decreased at 5 K, keeping the same magnetic field of 4 T, the Δρ/ρ value increased to 38.35%. These results experimentally suggest that the Δρ/ρ of Silver telluride (Ag2Te) NWs increased with the temperature decreasing gradually at the same magnetic field
More recently, a band calculation paper [14] by first principle calculations reported that β-Ag2Te is a new binary topological insulator with gapless linear Dirac-type surface states. This raises the possibility that the observed unusual MR behavior can be understood from its topological nature and may largely come from the surface or interface contributions
Summary
During the past few decades, a shape-controlled synthesis of semiconducting crystals with well-defined morphologies, such as belts, wires, rods, tubes, spheres, sheets, combs, and cubes, has attracted considerable attention due to their novel properties and applications in many fields [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. Among these nanostructures, one-dimensional (1D) nanostructures have increasingly become the subject of intensive research due to their potential applications in a variety of novel devices [8,9,10]. Ag2Te with nontrivial MR can provide great opportunities in magnetic sensor and memory applications
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