Optical and Electrical Studies of Vertically Oriented Tellurium Nanowire Arrays Produced by Template Electrodeposition

Abstract

We report the fabrication of highly ordered arrays of tellurium nanowires and investigate their electrical, optical and structural properties. The tellurium nanowire arrays were synthesized by electrochemical deposition via a template method and characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and UV–Visible spectroscopy. The XRD and FESEM characterizations confirm the formation of a dense crop of tellurium nanowire arrays with hexagonal phase. The intense crystalline peak corresponding to the (100) plane observed in the XRD spectra suggests a preferential growth of wires along the [001] direction. The crystallite size and micro-strain effect were estimated by Williamson–Hall (WH) analysis. The average crystallite size and lattice strain extracted from WH plot were found to be ∼34 nm and 0.0044, respectively. Further, electrical properties of the arrays of nanowires were examined using a two-probe method. The current–voltage curve of the tellurium wires exhibits a non-linear behavior and a double diode-like characteristic, which signifies their novel applications in future nanodevices.