The sharp peaks in the XRD profiles indicate the high crystallinity of the PbTe sample. However, the XRD profile for PbTe-1 sample shows two weak peaks on either side of the (220) peak, which can be attributed to the presence of some elemental Te [22]. The residual Te indicates that the synthesis in ethanol at relatively low temperature (140°C) is an incomplete reaction. The results indicate that if ethanol is used as the solvent, a high reaction temperature is needed to promote a

complete reaction and achieve high-purity PbTe (see the XRD pattern labeled PbTe-3 in Figure  1a). Furthermore, if a water/AZD2171 supplier glycerol mixture is utilized LY3023414 research buy as the solvent, pure phase of PbTe can be formed at either a low temperature of 140°C (see the XRD pattern labeled PbTe-2 in Figure  1a) or a high temperature of 200°C (see the XRD pattern labeled PbTe-4 in Figure  1a). It is clear that solvent of a water/glycerol mixture facilitates the reaction. Because only water/glycerol mixture yields a pure phase of PbTe at all synthesis conditions including lower temperature (140°C) synthesis, our all indium-doped samples were prepared in water/glycerol solution at 140°C for 24 h, which are the same conditions used for synthesizing undoped sample PbTe-2. Figure 1 XRD patterns of undoped and In-doped PbTe samples. (a) XRD patterns of the

as-prepared undoped PbTe samples synthesized without surfactants for 24 h: PbTe-1 at 140°C in ethanol solution, PbTe-2 at 140°C in water/glycerol solution, VS-4718 order PbTe-3 at 200°C in ethanol, and PbTe-4 at 200°C in water/glycerol solution. (b) XRD pattern of In-doped PbTe samples synthesized at 140°C for 24 h: In005PbTe, In01PbTe, In015PbTe, and In02PbTe synthesized in water/glycerol solution. Figure  1b represents the XRD patterns of In-doped PbTe (In005PbTe, In01PbTe, In015PbTe, and Teicoplanin In02PbTe) synthesized at 140°C for 24 h in water/glycerol solution. All the

diffraction peaks belong to the same face-centered cubic structure as that of PbTe and the very sharp peaks indicating the high crystallinity of the as-synthesized In-doped PbTe samples. XRD patterns do not show any peaks corresponding to elemental indium, indicating that indium is likely doped in PbTe. Lattice constants of undoped (PbTe-2) and indium-doped samples were calculated from the respective XRD profiles using Bragg’s law and were tabulated in Table  1. As indium atoms are smaller in diameter than Pb atoms, lattice constants of the In-doped PbTe are expected to decrease. However, the lattice constants for undoped and all indium-doped PbTe samples are almost the same (average value approximately 6.434 Å) which is in agreement with the reported value for undoped cubic PbTe (6.454 Å, JCPDS: 78-1905). Figure  2 shows the variation of lattice constant of our indium-doped PbTe samples with different molar fractions of indium doping prepared at 140°C for 24 h in water/glycerol solution.