Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 18, 2026

Seeded Synthesis of CdSe/CdS Rod and Tetrapod Nanocrystals
Published on: December 11, 2013
Crystallization and shape evolution of single crystalline selenium nanorods at liquid-liquid interface: from
Ji-Ming Song1, Jian-Hua Zhu, Shu-Hong Yu
1Division of Nanomaterials and Chemistry, Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, Structure Research Laboratory of CAS, Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, The People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
The reduction of selenious acid solution with hydrazine hydrate in the presence of poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) can produce a stable dispersion of uniform and amorphous selenium particles capped with PVP with a size of 100 nm. Further addition of a solvent with low polarity such as n-butyl alcohol into this aqueous solution and mild stirring result in the transportation of amorphous selenium particles onto a liquid-liquid interface between water and n-butyl alcohol. Subsequent crystallization and shape evolution on this interface occurred and finally resulted in the formation of single crystalline selenium nanorods. The results demonstrated that the enrichment of nanoparticles with amphiphilic property at a liquid-liquid interface between a polar solvent and another solvent of low polarity can result in crystallization and phase transformation for the formation of nanostructures.
Related Concept Videos
Recrystallization: Solid–Solution Equilibria
Crystal Growth: Principles of Crystallization
Initiating crystallization involves manipulating the concentration of the solute and the temperature of the solution. Since crystal growth occurs when the ratio of concentration and solubility of the solute in the solvent – the...

