Selective growth of gold nanoparticles onto tellurium nanowires via a green chemical route

In this paper, we describe a green chemical route for highly selective growth of Au tips onto Te nanowires (NWs). We carefully selected the pH values to vary the redox reaction potential between Au3+ and Te NWs, allowing control of nucleation and growth rates of Au nanoparticles (NPs). In the presence of 10 mM CTAB, we obtained Au-Te and Au-Te-Au NWs at pH 4.0 and 5.0, respectively. Photovoltaic data revealed that the resistance of the Te NW-based thin films is controlled by the degree of deposition of Au NPs. We suspect that Au-Te and/or Au-Te-Au NWs hold great potential for use in the fabrication of electronic devices. © 2008 The Royal Society of Chemistry.