Large-scale synthesis and growth habit of 3-D flower-like crystal of PbTe

In this paper, 3-D flower-like crystal of PbTe was successfully synthesized using Pb(CH₃COO)₂·3H₂O and Na₂TeO₃ as precursors under hydrothermal conditions, and characterized by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction pattern (XRD). The reaction parameters that influenced the evolution of PbTe synthesis and morphology were investigated. It was shown that the flower-like crystal of PbTe was composed of a nucleus with eight pods. A possible growth mechanism was proposed based on the calculation of the surface energies of PbTe and the SEM observation. Furthermore, the temperature-dependent transport properties of 3-D flower-like crystal of PbTe specimen have been evaluated with an average thermoelectric power of 120 S cm^?1 and electrical conductivity of 220 μV K^?1 at 740 K.