Morphology-controlled synthesis and characterization of CdTe micro-/nanoscale structures by electrodeposition method

Cadmium telluride (CdTe) micro-/nanoscale structures, including micropillars, micro-/nanorods and microflowers arrays, were successfully and controllably synthesized by electrodeposition on nickel substrates. Various characterization techniques, such as X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy, selected area electron diffraction and Raman spectroscopy, were used to characterize the structures and properties of the as-prepared films. The structural analysis revealed that the as-synthesized CdTe films deposited in different concentrations of sulfuric acid system had cubic phases and possessed a polycrystalline structure with preferred orientations along the [111] direction. The results of SEM showed that the sulfuric acid concentrations had a significant effect on the morphology evolution from micropillar arrays to microflower arrays, and a possible formation mechanism was proposed. In addition, according to the results of the optical and photoelectrochemical performances in the visible-light region, the as-synthesized films have considerable potential to be applied as absorber materials in substrate configuration solar cells.