LAUSR

A facile hydrothermal method has been developed for the synthesis of Te microwires of about a several hundred micrometres in length. Te microwires were studied by scanning electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and I–V characterisation. By applying a force on a Te microwire (about 1 mm in length and tens μm in diameter) edge with an AFM tip, the output current dramatically increased by applying a larger level of force, which indicated that the Schottky barrier height between the Pt/Ir-coated AFM tip and the I–V property of the Te microwire can be effectively tuned by the piezotronic effect. We demonstrated that Te microwire can be considered as a promising building block for realising nano-force sensing.