Facile Synthesis of Te and AgTe Microrods for Light-Activated Bending-Responsive Photodetectors.

In this study, we report the synthesis of Te and AgTe micron-sized rods (MRs) via a controlled hot-injection-based quenching process, enabling the control of rod morphology and enhanced crystallinity. Structural analysis confirmed that the synthesized Te MRs exhibit a trigonal phase, growing along the (110) direction, while AgTe MRs undergo a phase transformation into a monoclinic structure upon Ag doping. A simple and scalable photodetector (PD) was fabricated by drop-casting Te and AgTe MRs onto PET plastic films, followed by the application of Ag paste electrodes. The PD demonstrated room-light-induced photocurrent responses, which increased significantly upon mechanical bending due to the formation of additional conductive pathways between MRs. The AgTe-based bending sensor exhibited a fivefold enhancement in photocurrent compared to its Te counterpart and maintained high stability over 1000 bending cycles. These results highlight the potential of Te and AgTe MRs for use in flexible and wearable motion-sensing technologies, offering a simple yet effective approach for integrating 1D telluride nanostructures into scalable optoelectronic applications.