Tuning of the aspect ratio of SnSe nanorods: A rapid and facile microemulsion templated approach

Abstract

Recently, tin selenides have attracted considerable attention as an environmental friendly alternative to Cd and Pb based optoelectronic materials. Considering the meticulous procedures involved in the synthesis of tin selenide 1D nanostructures reported till date, we present here a rapid and highly facile approach for their formation, wherein a ternary water-in-oil microemulsion system (AOT (Aerosol-OT)/iso-octane/water) acts as a template. Various characterization studies confirmed the formation of crystallized nanorods of tin selenide with stoichiometric ratio of Sn:Se. Importantly, the dimensions of the nanorods can be conveniently tuned by simply varying the amount of water (W0) of the microemulsions. This was evident from the formation of predominantly uniform size nanorods with an aspect ratio of ∼28 in microemulsions with lower W0values (≤ 10). On the contrary, primarily nanospheres were formed accompanied with fewer nanorods of lower aspect ratio (∼12) in case of microemulsions with W0 ≥ 15. Moreover, this trend was also reflected in the UV–Vis absorption spectra. The plausible mechanism behind the formation of SnSe nanorods has been explained by taking into account the structural heterogeneity and the dynamic nature of the microemulsions.