The hydrothermal process was used to synthesize
CdTe nanowires (NWs). Various analytical techniques
were used to characterize the obtained NWs. The wire
diameters were in the range 35–60 nm, and the lengths
were [5 lm. The CdTe NWs had zinc-blende crystal
structure. The NWs had high uniformity and high yield.
FTIR analysis revealed the presence of the characteristic
vibrational spectra of oxygen and hydrogen bounded to Cd
and Te in CdTe NWs. The optical band gap value was
2.09 eV. The CdTe NWs showed a strong red emission
band centered around 620.3 nm. The conductivity measurements
were carried out in the temperature range
300–500 K and in air atmosphere. Two types of conduction
mechanisms were observed with activation energies of 0.27
and 0.17 eV at high and low temperature regions, respectively.
These results validate the potential of CdTe NWs
for optoelectronic applications.