Sonochemical synthesis of nanocrystalline silver tellurides Ag2Te and Ag7Te4

In this paper, we report a simple and clean method of producing nanocrystal line silver tellurides in organic solvent systems by high-intensity ultraso nic irradiation at room temperature, Ag2Te and Ag7Te4 are prepared in an et hylenediamine system and an ethanol system, respectively. The products were mainly characterized by X-ray powder diffraction and transmission electron microscopy, The ultrasonic irradiation and the solvents are both important in the formation of products. The possible mechanism of the nanocrystallin e Ag2Te formation in ethylenediamine under high-intensity ultrasonic irradi ation is also discussed. (C) 2001 Academic Press.