Synthesis of TeO2 nanowires via a facile thermal oxidation method

TeO₂ is of considerable interest for piezoelectric, ther‐moelectric, acousto‐optic and nonlinear optical applica‐tions. In this work, we report a facile synthetic tech‐nique for obtaining high‐quality TeO₂ nanowires (NWs) via a thermal oxidation of Te NWs in a large quantity. The synthetic conditions were systematically optimized to transform from Te NWs to TeO₂ NWs using a furnace oven. The optimal conditions for the formation of high‐quality TeO₂ NWs were found to be 300 °C for 1 hr in an oven furnace. The NWs were characterized using X‐ray diffraction, field‐emission scanning electron mi‐croscopy, high resolution transmission electron micros‐copy and Raman scattering. Diffuse reflectance spec‐trum was also used to determine the band gap (3.78 eV) of synthesized TeO₂ NWs.