Nanowires to improve photovoltaics

Review on photonic properties of nanowires for photovoltaics.

III-V semiconductor nanowires behave as optical antennae because of their shape anisotropy and high refractive index. The antennae like behavior modifies the absorption and emission properties of nanowires compared to planar materials. Nanowires absorb light more efficiently compared to an equivalent volume planar material, leading to higher short circuit current densities. The modified emissio...

Improve thermoelectric efficiency of silicon nanowires

The miscibility and depth profile of PCBM in P3HT: thermodynamic information to improve organic photovoltaics.

Recent work has shown that poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and the surface-functionalized fullerene 1-(3-methyloxycarbonyl)propyl(1-phenyl[6,6])C(61) (PCBM) are much more miscible than originally thought, and the evidence of this miscibility requires a return to understanding the optimal morphology and structure of organic photovoltaic active layers. This manuscript describes the results of exper...

Direct heteroepitaxy of vertical InAs nanowires on Si substrates for broad band photovoltaics and photodetection.

Catalyst-free, direct heteroepitaxial growth of vertical InAs nanowires on Si(111) substrates was accomplished over a large area by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition. Nanowires showed very uniform diameters and a zinc blende crystal structure. The heterojunctions formed at the interface between the n-type InAs nanowires and the p-type Si substrate were exploited to fabricate vertical arra...

In(x)Ga(₁-x)As nanowires on silicon: one-dimensional heterogeneous epitaxy, bandgap engineering, and photovoltaics.

We report on the one-dimensional (1D) heteroepitaxial growth of In(x)Ga(1-x)As (x = 0.2-1) nanowires (NWs) on silicon (Si) substrates over almost the entire composition range using metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) without catalysts or masks. The epitaxial growth takes place spontaneously producing uniform, nontapered, high aspect ratio NW arrays with a density exceeding 1 × 10(8)/...