Electrochemically deposited Bismuth-Telluride nanowires in nanoporous alumina membranes

Bismuth telluride nanowires were electrochemically deposited from solutions of bi2o3 and teo2 in 1m hno3/dimethyl sulfoxide (dmso) (50% v/v) onto nanoporous anodized aluminum oxide (aao) films working electrodes at room temperature. a conventional three-electrode cell was used with a platinum sheet counter electrode and a saturated calomel reference electrode (sce). the bi-te nanowires were prepared using potentials varying from -250 to -100 mv (versus sce). x-ray diffraction (xrd) and scanning electron microscopy (sem) were employed to characterize the nanowires. the xrd revealed that the deposit nanowires consist of bi2te3 rhombohedral phase. sem studies showed that the nanowires are homogeneous and may protrude from the anodized alumina nanopores depending on the deposition time as can be readily revealed by the current-time characteristics of the process. © 2017,university of mohammed premier oujda morocco.