The correct command is just rm
:)
A device node created by mknod
is just a file that contains a device major and minor number. When you access that file the first time, Linux looks for a driver that advertises that major/minor and loads it. Your driver then handles all I/O with that file.
When you delete a device node, the usual Un*x file behavior aplies: Linux will wait until there are no more references to the file and then it will be deleted from disk.
Your driver doesn't really notice anything of this. Linux does not automatically unload modules. Your driver wil simply no longer receive requests to do anything. But it will be ready in case anybody recreates the device node.