Universal ion exchange method for flowerlike metal telluride (PbTe, CdTe, Sb2Te3, Bi2Te3, and Cu7Te4) microstructures by using -ZnTe(en)0.5 as templates

A universal ion exchange template-assisted route is successfully developed for preparing various three-dimensional (3D) metal telluride flowerlike microstructures, including PbTe, CdTe, Bi2Te3, Sb2Te3, and Cu7Te4. The proposed synthesis method is simple and reproducible. Firstly, organic-inorganic hybrid -ZnTe(en)(0.5) flowerlike microcrystals are prepared as the template, and then a corresponding metal salt (Pb, Cd, Bi, Sb, and Cu) is introduced to synthesise the corresponding metal telluride flowerlike microstructures. During this process, ethylenediamine molecules and Zn ions in the -ZnTe(en)(0.5) flowerlike microcrystals simultaneously exchange with metal ions (Pb, Cd, Bi, Sb, and Cu) after the addition of metal precursors, and finally form flowerlike metal telluride microcrystals. This method may be further extended for other 3D metal telluride microstructures.