Electrical Properties of Electrodeposited ZnCuTe Ternary Nanowires Embedded in Polycarbonate Membrane

Abstract

The electrical properties of electrodeposited zinc-copper-telluride (ZnCuTe) nanowires embedded in polycarbonate track-etch membrane (Whatman) having pore-diameters of 200, 100 and 50nm have been studied and reported in this paper. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) confirmed the formation of the nanowires of uniform diameter equal to the diameter of the templates used. I-V measurements at room temperature (303K) reveal that the nanowires of diameter 200, 100 and 50nm have linear and ohmic characteristics. Higher electron transport was observed in larger diameter nanowires compared to smaller ones which may be attributing to size effect. The temperature-dependent electrical transport measurements over a temperature range 308–423K reveal that the temperature dependence of electrical conductivity increases with increasing temperature and decreases as the nanowires size decreases. The study reveals that ZnCuTe nanowires have negative temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR).