Solar-Driven Sustainability: III-V Semiconductor for Green Energy Production Technologies.

Long-term societal prosperity depends on addressing the world's energy and environmental problems, and photocatalysis has emerged as a viable remedy. Improving the efficiency of photocatalytic processes is fundamentally achieved by optimizing the effective utilization of solar energy and enhancing the efficient separation of photogenerated charges. It has been demonstrated that the fabrication of III-V semiconductor-based photocatalysts is effective in increasing solar light absorption, long-term stability, large-scale production and promoting charge transfer. This focused review explores on the current developments in III-V semiconductor materials for solar-powered photocatalytic systems. The review explores on various subjects, including the advancement of III-V semiconductors, photocatalytic mechanisms, and their uses in H2 conversion, CO2 reduction, environmental remediation, and photocatalytic oxidation and reduction reactions. In order to design heterostructures, the review delves into basic concepts including solar light absorption and effective charge separation. It also highlights significant advancements in green energy systems for water splitting, emphasizing the significance of establishing eco-friendly systems for CO2 reduction and hydrogen production. The main purpose is to produce hydrogen through sustainable and ecologically friendly energy conversion. The review intends to foster the development of greener and more sustainable energy source by encouraging researchers and developers to focus on practical applications and advancements in solar-powered photocatalysis.

Low-Leakage Current Core-Shell AlGaN Nanorod LED Device Operating in the Ultraviolet-B Band.

Despite the considerable potential of AlGaN-based ultraviolet-B light-emitting diodes (UV-B LEDs) in various applications such as phototherapy, UV curing, plant growth, and analytical technology, their development is still ongoing due to low luminescence efficiency. In this study, we introduced a novel epitaxial growth mechanism to effectively control the height and thickness of AlGaN multiple wells (MWs) on AlGaN nanorod structures using horizontal reactor-based metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). By adjusting the H2 carrier gas flow rate, we could control the growth boundary layer's thickness, successfully separating the AlGaN well and p-AlGaN layer from the substrate. Cathodoluminescence (CL) measurements confirmed the stability of the core-shell AlGaN quantum wells as a highly stable nonpolarized structure, with the wavelength peak remaining almost unchanged under various injection currents. Furthermore, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) provided clear evidence of differentiation, highlighting the distinct formation of the 275 nm AlGaN core and the 295 nm AlGaN shell structure. The developed AlGaN MW structure, characterized by these rectification features, not only demonstrated a significantly improved electroluminescence (EL) peak intensity but also exhibited a much lower leakage current compared to the conventional core-shell AlGaN structure. The newly proposed growth mechanism and advanced nonpolarized core-shell AlGaN structure are expected to serve as excellent alternatives for substantially enhancing the efficiency of the next generation of high-efficiency UV LEDs.

Near-IR emission of InGaN quasi-quantum dots on non-polar GaN nanowire structures.

In group III-nitride based semiconductor structures, the incorporation of high-indium-composition InGaN has been severely limited by extremely inefficient strain-induced polarization fields and prohibitively large defect densities. So far, there is no clear approach to solve this issue. Here, we have shown a new approach to incorporate high concentrations of indium in the InGaN structure by using a non-polar quasi-quantum dot heterostructure. This unique epitaxial growth was achieved by integrating a 1-dimensional nanowire and a 0-dimensional quantum dot structure using an MOCVD system. The formation of a high-efficiency quantum-sliding heterostructure and high-quality nanowire structure was confirmed by FE-SEM and TEM measurements. Furthermore, it has been suggested that such a quantum-dot structure can dramatically improve radiative recombination through a new sliding bandgap mechanism. We also found that non-polar quantum dots can not only incorporate more indium than conventional multi-quantum well structures grown on the nanowire structure, but also significantly improve crystalline quality. The PL results verified that the wavelength of quantum dots fabricated on the nanowire structure can easily shift up to 913 nm. The first demonstration in the integration of nanowire and quantum dot structures will open a new avenue to break through the limitations of high indium incorporation in photonic semiconductor systems.

A III-nitride nanowire solar cell fabricated using a hybrid coaxial and uniaxial InGaN/GaN multi quantum well nanostructure.

III-Nitride nanowires are currently considered as next generation photovoltaic materials due to their excellent physical properties together with reduced dislocation densities, increased surface area and thus enhanced light absorption and direct path for carrier transport. Here, we investigate the photovoltaic characteristics of a solar cell fabricated from a novel hybrid nanostructure comprising uniaxial and coaxial InGaN/GaN multi-quantum wells (MQWs) along with an InGaN nano-cap layer. Various characterization methods were employed to study the optical and structural properties of the hybrid nanostructure. Transmission electron microscopy images revealed the hybrid nanostructure consists of distinct uniaxial and coaxial InGaN/GaN MQWs along with the InGaN nano-cap layer. The InGaN/GaN MQW architectures have a significant effect on the performance of the photovoltaic device. The solar cell fabricated with the hybrid nanostructure exhibits superior photovoltaic performance compared to the uniaxial as well as the coaxial InGaN/GaN nanowire MQW structures. The improved photovoltaic characteristic is primarily attributed to the considerably larger InGaN active area grown in the hybrid nanostructure. A conversion efficiency of 1.16% along with a fill factor of 70% was obtained for the device fabricated with the hybrid nanostructure. This study provides an experimental demonstration of the improvement of III-nitride nanowire based solar cells incorporating uniaxial and coaxial InGaN/GaN MQWs.