Electricity Generation from Atmospheric Moisture Using a CdS/p‐Si Nanowire Hetero‐Junction Device

Abstract

One‐dimensional heterojunction devices are gaining attention because of improved carrier collection which results in improving the overall efficiency of a device. Herein, we report the synthesis of a CdS/p‐Si nanowire (NW) hetero‐junction device by wet‐chemical methods and their potential application for electricity generation from atmospheric moisture. A single CdS/p‐Si NWs hetero‐junction based moisture enabled electricity generator (MEG) device exhibits a saturated maximum output voltage in the range of 250–300 mV and a saturation current of ∼0.2 μA in presence of humid conditions. This primitive module acts as a promising candidate for future energy generation devices constituting of individual units connected either through simple series or parallel connection to scale up high electrical power.

PbS/p‐Si NW Heterojunction Thin Film Device for Room Temperature NH3 Detection

“…[10][11][12][13][14] Recently, our group demonstrated electricity generation from atmospheric moisture utilizing CdSÀ Si NW heterojunction thin films resulting in an output voltage of ~300 mV and an output current of ~300 μA. [15] Lead sulfide (PbS), a narrow band gap material (~0.4 eV) has emerged as an efficient absorbent layer for photovoltaic cells. Though optical applications such as infra-red (IR) sensing are most reported, there are a few reports regarding application of PbS as gas sensors.…”

“…CdS−Si NW heterostructures are the most reported ones which can find potential use as nano LED, photodetectors and for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution [10–14] . Recently, our group demonstrated electricity generation from atmospheric moisture utilizing CdS−Si NW heterojunction thin films resulting in an output voltage of ~300 mV and an output current of ~300 μA [15] …”