In this work we investigated fabrication of semiconductor nanomaterials and evaluated their potential for photo-chemical and photovoltaic applications. We investigated different II-VI semiconductor nanomaterial systems; (i) ZnO oriented nanowire arrays non-epitaxially grown from a substrate; and (ii) colloidal CdE (E=Te,Se,S) quantum structures synthesized by solution-based thermal decomposition of organo-metallic precursors.

We have studied the synthesis of vertically aligned ZnO nanowire arrays (NWA), by a wet chemical process on various substrates. We have extended this method wherein nanofibers of poly-L-lactide act as a substrate for the radially oriented growth of ZnO nanowires. By combining the large surface area and the flexibility of the PLLA-ZnO hierarchical nanostructure we have shown the proof-of-principle demonstration of a ‘continuous-flow’ water treatment system to decompose known organic pollutants in water, as well as render common waterborne bacteria non-viable.

We have studied synthesis of colloidal quantum dots (QD), and show size, morphology and composition tailored nanocrystals for CdE (E=S, Se, Te) compositions. We have studied the influence of crystal growth habits of the nanocrtsyals on the final morphology. Furthermore we have synthesized core-shell, CdSe-CdS QDs with spherical and tetrahedral morphologies by varying the reaction conditions. We show that these core-shell quantum dots show quasi-type II characteristics, and demonstrate with I-V measurements, the spatial localization of the charge carriers in these hetero-nanocrystals. For this purpose, we developed hybrid materials consisting of the core-shell quantum dots with electron acceptors (ZnO nanowires) and hole acceptors (polymeric P3HT nanofibers).

In addition we have also compared the synthesis reaction when carried out with conventional heating and microwave-mediated heating. We find that the reaction is enhanced, and the yield is qualitatively better when using microwave induced heating.

Nanostructured materials have attracted a broad interest in various technologies such as optoelectronics. In this thesis, nanostructured semiconductor nanocrystals, including inorganic and organic materials, were fabricated by solution based methods. The reaction conditions were optimized to control the size and morphology of the obtained nanocrystals. The optical and photoelectric properties of nanocrystals were evaluated for potential optoelectronic applications.

Colloidal CdSe quantum dots (QDs) were synthesized via thermolysis method and layers of CdS was further grown on the core CdSe QDs to form a core-shell heterostructure quantum dots (HQDs). The optical properties of HQDs were evaluated and showed the characteristics of quasi-type-II alignment of energy levels, which has potential for excitonic solar cell (XSC) application.

Nanofibers of the semiconducting polymer poly-(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) were synthesized via a modified whisker method. In order to control the size (both the length and the diameter) of nanofibers, we systematically studied the ratio between mixture solvents and the solute concentration. In addition, the degradation processes of P3HT nanofibers on different substrates under various environments were investigated. We found that the degradation of P3HT nanofibers can be effectively suppressed by using the substrate of higher conductivity. A nanocomposite consisting of HQDs and P3HT nanofibers was fabricated and its photoelectric properties were evaluated by I-V measurements. A ‘turn-on’ voltage was found and revealed the localization of excited holes within the HQDs, which confirmed the quasi-type-II alignment between core and shell energy levels.

In addition, we aligned the P3HT nanofibers by applying the external electric field. Alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC) induced alignments of P3HT nanofibers were investigated respectively to study the effects of different electric fields on the alignment behavior. It was determined that the AC electric field allowed a better alignment of nanofibers. Moreover, two different lengths of P3HT nanofibers were aligned and their absorption spectra were measured. Under polarized light beams, we observed a better aligned pattern in the case of longer nanofibers, shown as a higher dichroic ratio calculated from optical absorption spectra. These aligned nanofibers may find applications in optoelectronic devices.