22742 J. Phys. Chem. B, Vol. 109, No. 48, 2005
He and Yu
Figure 3. TEM images of the samples obtained at 80 °C using different concentration of sodium telluride. (a-c) The concentration of sodium
telluride is 0.5, 0.1, and 0.05 mmol sodium telluride, respectively. The reaction was done in 25 mL aqueous tetraethylene pentamine solution with
the volume ratio of 1:1(distilled water and tetraethylene pentamine).
(
in 1, 2, 3 order marked as three white panes). At the tip of the
damaged nanoribbon, no crystal lattice fringes can be observed
Figure 5b). However, the lattice fringes with a spacing of 5.90
(
Å can be observed on the trunk of the ribbon, corresponding to
the growth direction along [001] (Figure 5c). The lattice fringes
with a spacing of 2.23 Å, which are perpendicular to those of
(001) plane, are corresponding to that of (110) plane. However,
the lattice fringes with a spacing of 3.24 Å are frequently
observed, corresponding to that of (101) plane. Additionally,
an amorphous layer of a thickness of about 25 nm coexisted
with the destroyed backbone was observed. Furthermore, a lot
of jags were observed and they already extended along the whole
backbone of the ribbon, which can be confirmed by the contrast
difference of the TEM image.
However, this observation is different from what the erosion
event took place in water. Although an amorphous layer also
yielded around the ribbon, but the eroded notches are observed
along the backbone and they turned along it, the key difference
between them is that bone structure eroded in water keep intact
as a fresh one with conspicuous lattice fringes of spacing 5.90
Å for (001) plane (Figure 6b,c). Also an amorphous layer was
observed (Figure 6b). The result suggested that polar water
molecules could only attack from surface along the backbone
of the nanoribbons gradually rather than that ethanol molecules
can penetrate into the backbone.
Figure 4. TEM images of rotten tellurium nanoribbons in pure ethanol
and deionized water for 35 days, respectively. (a, b) Typical morphology
of structures which were penetrated by pure ethanol is shown. The
inserted ED taken on the structures, showing that the structures are
amorphous. (c, d) Typical TEM images of the gnawed structures by
water are shown. The inserted ED pattern shows that the remaining
part of the nanoribbons is still single crystalline.
such as pure ethanol or deionized water. This observation is
not consistent with a previous report that tellurium nanotubes
4
remained unchanged in water or ethanol for several months.
The morphology of the rotten nanoribbons in ethanol and
water after storing in these two solvents for 35 days is shown
in Figure 4. Higher magnification TEM images show that the
smooth surface of the initial intact nanoribbons becomes rough
and there are a lot of holes within the nanoribbon body (Figure
The erosion process and the crytallinity of the intermediates
in the two solvents were respectively examined by time
dependent XRD measurement (Figure 7). The intermediate
samples after storing for different time were also examined by
HRTEM. The XRD pattern for the initial nanoribbons shows
that there are three intensive diffraction peaks (100), (101), (110)
are observed and the (100) peak is the strongest and (101) plane
is weakest (Figure 7a). Compared with the XRD pattern for
the initial single crystalline tellurium (Figure 7a), the intensities
of the diffraction peaks for the product after storing in ethanol
for 15 days become weaker. Two distinguished features are
observed based on the XRD patterns. First, the (100), (110)
peaks became weaker and (101) and became more intensified.
As we discussed above, the nanoribbons were attacked by
ethanol molecules both from surface and inside. And the
backbones of the nanoribbons are destroyed more than those in
water since a lot of holes are observed (Figure 4a,b) in the
intermediate sample obtained after aging for 35 days. The (100)
and (110) planes are perpendicular to the (001) plane, while
the (101) plane is not, the fact that the more frequently observed
the lattice fringes of (101) by the HRTEM images in Figure
5c,d are well consistent with the presence of intensified (101)
peak appeared in the XRD patterns (Figure 7b,c). The results
suggested that the ethanol molecules attacked the (001) and the
4a,b). The ethanol molecules could invade into the backbone
of the nanoribbon (Figure 4b). The selected area diffraction
pattern taken on the wires shows an amorphous feature (inset
in Figure 5a). In contrast, the sample obtained after eroding in
water for the same period shows different features as that above
observed in ethanol (Figure 4c,d). The long nanoribbons become
shorter and the obvious eroding event happened in a way that
is different from in ethanol. In addition, the electron diffraction
pattern taken on the backbone of the eroded nanoribbon shows
that it is still single crystalline (inset in Figure 4d).
To further understand the initial stages of the eroding process,
the samples after eroding for 15 days were obtained for TEM,
HRTEM, and XRD analysis. High-resolution TEM images in
Figure 5 reveal the detailed structural features during the eroding
process, which were taken on the samples after eroding for 15
days in ethanol. Figure 5a shows the initial stage of erosion
happened on the nanoribbons. Figure 5b,c,d shows the HRTEM
images selected on a eroded nanoribbon (shown in Figure 5a)
which were taken on the different positions of the nanoribbon