A Novel Photovoltaic Device Using Type II Tunable Core-shell Nanowires

本项目由电气、通信和网络系统部（ECCS）的能源、电力和自适应系统（EPAS）项目和材料研究部（DMR）的电子和光子材料（EPAS）项目共同资助。研究目标和方法：本研究的目的是设计、制造和表征基于应变核壳半导体纳米线的独特太阳能电池器件。 该方法是设计应变的核-壳纳米线，使得电子和空穴的空间分离在非常短的时间尺度上以量子力学的方式发生，这导致更长的电荷寿命。 光伏器件将由这些纳米线制造，电子结构和性能将通过光学和传输测量来确认。 智力优势：大多数现有的太阳能电池技术使用电场来分离电子和空穴，这可能是低效和缓慢的。 应变核-壳纳米线的设计可以通过量子限制将电子和空穴快速分离到不同的层中，这将大大提高将光转换为可用功率的效率。 应变的控制允许调整的能带结构和偏移，这提供了一个优化所得到的太阳能电池的路线。更广泛的影响：这项研究具有强大的社会影响，因为设计高效率的太阳能电池的潜力，以减少对化石燃料的依赖。 应变核壳纳米线中电子结构和传输的基础知识的增加也显着影响纳米线电子和基于纳米线的化学或生物传感器。 拟议的研究将培养本科生和研究生在先进的理论和实验纳米技术。 此外，为选定的高中教师举办的夏季研讨会将指导新教材的开发，让未来的学生分享这种替代能源研究背后的兴奋和知识。

This project is jointly funded by the Energy, Power, and Adaptive Systems (EPAS) Program in the Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems (ECCS) and the Electronic and Photonic Materials (EPM) Program in the Division of Materials Research (DMR).Research Objectives and Approaches: The objective of this research is to design, fabricate and characterize unique solar cell devices based on strained core-shell semiconductor nanowires. The approach is to design the strained core-shell nanowires so that spatial separation of the electrons and holes occur quantum mechanically on a very short time scale which results in longer charge lifetimes. Photovoltaic devices will be fabricated from these nanowires and electronic structure and performance will be confirmed through optical and transport measurements. Intellectual Merit: Most existing solar-cell technologies use electric fields to separate electrons and holes which can be inefficient and slow. Design of strained core-shell nanowires can enable the rapid separation of electrons and holes through quantum confinement into different layers which should dramatically increase the efficiency for converting light into usable power. Control of the strain allows tuning of the band structure and offsets, which provides a route for optimizing the resulting solar cells.Broader Impacts: This research has strong societal impacts because of the potential for designing high-efficiency solar cells for reducing dependence on fossil fuels. The increased fundamental knowledge of electronic structure and transport in strained core-shell nanowires also significantly impacts nanowire electronics and nanowire-based chemical or biological sensors. The proposed research will train undergraduate and graduate students in advanced theoretical and experimental nanotechnology techniques. In addition, a summer workshop for select high school teachers will guide new educational materials development to allow future students to share in the excitement of and knowledge behind this alternate energy research.