Preparation and characterization of the antimony telluride hexagonal nanoplates

Nanostructured thermoelectric materials are of much interest for improving the thermoelectric figure of merit. In the present work, Sb₂Te₃ hexagonal nanoplates were successfully fabricated via a facile hydrothermal method. The products were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction, field-emission scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The results show that the typical Sb₂Te₃ crystal is hexagonal in shape with about 35 nm in thickness and 300 nm in edge length. The mechanism for formation of Sb₂Te₃ hexagonal nanoplates is primarily discussed.