A system, method, and apparatus for a lateral solar cell structure are disclosed herein. In particular, the present disclosure teaches a lateral solar cell structure that includes nanorods that are formed the during epitaxial growth process to produce electrodes extending into the absorber region. This structure allows for a long optical absorption length of the absorber, such as 0.5-3 microns, but also allows for carrier collection over sub-micron distances enabling high collection efficiency from materials with a sub-micron diffusion length. The disclosed method of manufacturing the lateral solar cell structure involves providing a substrate, and epitaxially growing an absorber region and an emitter region on the substrate. The emitter region comprises a plurality of nanorods extending into the absorber region. The absorber region and the nanorods are oppositely doped. The absorber region and the nanorods are also oppositely strained.