Periodically twinned nanotowers and nanodendrites of mercury selenide synthesized via a solution-liquid-solid route

Two types of mercury selenide nanostructures, nanotowers and nanoscale dendrites, have been created with good control and high yield by a solution-liquid-solid process. Alternating twinned structures have been achieved in both the nanotowers and the nanodendrites, which originate from self-oscillations of local reaction variables sustained by the competition between the rates of supply and deposition of HgSe in the liquid mercury droplets.