Semiconducting Nanowires: Materials Synthesis and Energy Applications

Description
This seminar is organized within the framework of WATER project. http://www.water.imm.cnr.it Abstract Si/Ge semiconducting nanowires promise a wide variety of potential applications, including novel energy harvesting and storage devices. Vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) nanowire growth enables unique semiconducting structures with a significant range of control over size, composition and electrical doping. A unique aspect of the VLS growth is the formation of axial and radial (core/shell) heterogeneous structures which can’t be easily obtained by conventional 2D strained layer growth, providing a new approach to band structure engineering. We will discuss novel aspects of the materials synthesis process which arise due to nanoscale size and liquid-mediated growth effects, including our newly observed dependence of Si epitaxy growth rate on the radius of curvature. Heterostructured growth and resulting device properties will also be presented. We conclude with results for the application of nanowires to three dimensional photovoltaics and lithium ion battery anodes.