Synthesis and chemical etching of Te/C nanocables

In this paper, Te/C nanocables were fabricated by a hydrothermal method in the presence of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB). The products were characterized in detail by multiform techniques: transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, energy-dispersive X-ray analysis and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The results showed that the products were nanocables with lengths of several microns, core about 20 nm in diameter, and a surrounding sheath of about 60–80 nm in thickness. Te/C nanocables were tailored freely by chemical etching. Carbonaceous nanotubes and Te/C nanocables with fragmentary Te core were obtained by adjusting time of chemical etching.