The piezo‐phototronic effect is about the enhanced separation, transport, and recombination of the photogenerated carriers using the piezoelectric polarization charges present in piezoelectric‐semiconductor materials. Here, it is presented that the piezo‐phototronic effect can be effectively applied to improve the relative conversion efficiency of a flexible solar cell based on n‐ZnO/p‐SnS core–shell nanowire array for 37.3% under a moderate vertical pressure. The performance of the solar cell can be effectively enhanced by a gentle bending of the device, showing its potential for application in curly geometries. This study not only adds further understanding about the concept of increasing solar energy conversion efficiency via piezo‐phototronic effect, but also demonstrates the great potential of piezo‐phototronic effect in the application of large‐scale, flexible, and lightweight nanowire array solar cells.
In this work, InSb nanowires are grown vertically on Si (111) with metal organic chemical vapor deposition using InAs as seed layer, instead of external metal catalyst. Two groups of InSb nanowires are fabricated and characterized: one group presents Indium droplets at the nanowire's free end, while the other, in contrast, ends without Indium droplet but with pyramid-shaped InSb. The indium-droplet-ended nanowires are longer than the other group of nanowires. For both groups of InSb nanowires, InAs layers play an important role in their formation by serving as a template for growing InSb nanowires. The results presented in this work suggest a useful approach to grow catalyst-free InSb nanowires on Si substrates, which is significant for their device applications.
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