Growth of Vertically Aligned CdTe Nanorod Arrays through Patterned Electrodeposition

We have successfully developed a simple, reproducible and scalable technique for growing CdTe nanorod arrays on conducting surfaces through electrodeposition on patterned nanoelectrodes. The vertically aligned CdTe nanorods grown as arrays over large area were exceptionally homogeneous in terms of their diameter and length. The ensemble of the CdTe nanorod arrays covering an area of approximately 75×75 μm ² , exhibited a photocurrent density in the mA range, which was significantly higher than that obtained from a CdTe film with similar coverage grown under analogous conditions. This approach can be further extended to grow complex nanowire composition including heterojunction semiconductor nanowires incorporating a lateral and radial p-n junction by simple modification of the lithography and electrodeposition steps.