Sn-catalyst growth and optical waveguide of ultralong CdS nanowires

Large-scale, ultralong CdS nanowires (NWs) were grown by a simple thermal evaporation process. The NWs have diameter of 100–500 nm and lengths up to 1 mm. A Sn-catalytic vapor–liquid–solid mechanism is proposed to explain the growth process. The optical waveguide behavior of both individual NW and multi-NWs interconnected structures have been investigated, which indicates that the as-prepared CdS NWs are good optical waveguide material and may find potential applications in nanophotonic devices or systems.