Rights statement: This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in Nano Letters, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c02725
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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Slowing Hot-Electron Relaxation in Mix-Phase Nanowires for Hot-Carrier Photovoltaics
AU - Wang, H.
AU - Wang, F.
AU - Xu, T.
AU - Xia, H.
AU - Xie, R.
AU - Zhou, X.
AU - Ge, X.
AU - Liu, W.
AU - Zhu, Y.
AU - Sun, L.
AU - Guo, J.
AU - Ye, J.
AU - Zubair, M.
AU - Luo, M.
AU - Yu, C.
AU - Sun, D.
AU - Li, T.
AU - Zhuang, Q.
AU - Fu, L.
AU - Hu, W.
AU - Lu, W.
N1 - This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in Nano Letters, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c02725
PY - 2021/9/22
Y1 - 2021/9/22
N2 - Hot carrier harvest could save 30% energy loss in solar cells. So far, however, it is still unreachable as the photoexcited hot carriers are short-lived, ∼1 ps, determined by a rapid relaxation process, thus invalidating any reprocessing efforts. Here, we propose and demonstrate a feasible route to reserve hot electrons for efficient collection. It is accomplished by an intentional mix of cubic zinc-blend and hexagonal wurtzite phases in III-V semiconductor nanowires. Additional energy levels are then generated above the conduction band minimum, capturing and storing hot electrons before they cool down to the band edges. We also show the superiority of core/shell nanowire (radial heterostructure) in extracting hot electrons. The strategy disclosed here may offer a unique opportunity to modulate hot carriers for efficient solar energy harvest.
AB - Hot carrier harvest could save 30% energy loss in solar cells. So far, however, it is still unreachable as the photoexcited hot carriers are short-lived, ∼1 ps, determined by a rapid relaxation process, thus invalidating any reprocessing efforts. Here, we propose and demonstrate a feasible route to reserve hot electrons for efficient collection. It is accomplished by an intentional mix of cubic zinc-blend and hexagonal wurtzite phases in III-V semiconductor nanowires. Additional energy levels are then generated above the conduction band minimum, capturing and storing hot electrons before they cool down to the band edges. We also show the superiority of core/shell nanowire (radial heterostructure) in extracting hot electrons. The strategy disclosed here may offer a unique opportunity to modulate hot carriers for efficient solar energy harvest.
KW - hot electrons
KW - InAs
KW - mix-phase nanowire
KW - photovoltaics
KW - radial heterostructure
KW - Electrons
KW - Energy dissipation
KW - III-V semiconductors
KW - Nanowires
KW - Solar cells
KW - Solar energy
KW - Zinc sulfide
KW - Conduction-band minimum
KW - Core/shell nanowires
KW - Electron relaxation
KW - Hexagonal wurtzite
KW - Photovoltaics
KW - Radial heterostructure
KW - Rapid relaxation process
KW - Semiconductor nanowire
KW - Hot electrons
U2 - 10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c02725
DO - 10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c02725
M3 - Journal article
VL - 21
SP - 7761
EP - 7768
JO - Nano Letters
JF - Nano Letters
SN - 1530-6984
IS - 18
ER -