Silver selenide nanowires by electrodeposition

Silver selenide nanowires were synthesized by potentiostatic electrodeposition into porous anodic alumina membranes from an aqueous acid electrolyte containing silver ion complexed with SCN- and selenium dioxide at room temperature. Electron microscopy results showed that the lengths, diameters, and growth directions of the nanowires are quite uniform. X-ray energy dispersion analysis indicated that the nanowires are composed of Ag and Se with an atomic ratio of Ag/Se = 2.08, which is close to stoichiometric Ag2Se. X-ray diffraction patterns showed that the as-deposited nanowires are polycrystalline orthorhombic beta-Ag2Se, and the annealed nanowires are highly [002] oriented. Furthermore, the selected area electron diffraction pattern and the high-resolution transmission electron microscopy image demonstrated that after annealing the nanowires have a uniform crystalline structure of orthorhombic beta-Ag2Se, which are (002) oriented along the direction vertical to the wire axes. (C) 2003 The Electrochemical Society.