Low‐Dimensional Semiconductor Material‐Based Optoelectronic Devices and Their Applications

Abstract

Over the past three decades, bottom‐up low‐dimensional semiconductor materials became a high class of materials owing to their superior electronic and optical properties than their bulk counterparts. Accordingly, semiconducting nanostructures have gained a great deal of attention as building blocks for multifunctional optoelectronic devices that control all aspects of light, ranging from absorption, propagation, emission to modulation. Therefore, the article gives a comprehensive review of the intriguing properties of distinct nanostructured semiconducting materials ranging from silicon, III–V compounds, metal oxides, halide perovskites, carbon nanotubes to two‐dimensional (2D) transitional metal dichalcogenides. More specifically, we explore the size dependence, quantum‐confinement effects, structural phase, material composition, surface effects, high surface‐to‐volume ratio, radial or axial structures, 2D in‐plane and out‐of‐plane structures, junction type, energy band alignment, and graded refractive index profile, among others. Accordingly, we next look on how to exploit such properties to build high‐performance optoelectronic devices such as solar cells, photodetectors, waveguides, LEDs, and lasers. Special emphasis is given to nanowire‐based plasmonic lasers for their ability to deliver subwavelength coherent light at the nanoscale. Finally, we survey a large number of applications to display the great potential of semiconducting nanostructures toward the next generation of photonic‐integrated circuits and quantum devices.