Growth of novel multi-trunk CdS dendrites by hydrothermal method without surfactant

In the current paper, novel multi-trunk CdS dendrites were synthesized via a simple hydrothermal system, employing CdCl2·2H2O and KSCN as the starting materials. No extra surfactants were used. The observations from TEM and SEM showed that the product composed of a few long central trunks with secondary branches, which preferentially grew in a parallel direction with a definite angle to the trunks. Selected area electron diffraction (SAED) patterns confirmed that the dendrite was single crystalline in nature. X-ray diffraction analyses proved that the CdS dendrites were pure hexagonal structure. On the basis of the experimental results, a possible growth process has been discussed.