Controllable synthesis of PbSe nanorods via a low temperature solvothermal process

Abstract PbSe nanorods have been successfully synthesized via a simple solvothermal route, and the processing temperature was markedly reduced to 120 °C. In the synthetic system, the PEG molecules were used as the surfactant and the mixture of water and ethanol was used as the solvent, which provided a suitable environment for the formation of PbSe nanorods. The obtained PbSe nanostructures display rod-like morphology with diameters of 100–180 nm and lengths of up to 2 μm. The influence of the surfactant PEG and the solvent on the formation of PbSe nanorods was investigated and the possible growth mechanism was proposed.