Optical properties of nanostructured mesoporous semiconductor films

Direct liquid crystal templating from non-ionic polyoxyethylene surfactants has been utilised to produce well-defined birefringent films of nanostructured cadmium telluride with mesoporous architectures of extended spatial periodicities. The template mixtures and films were characterised by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and polarising optical microscopy to ascertain the presence of a regular nanostructure. UV-VIS reflectance spectroscopy was employed to investigate the films’ optical properties.