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There is variation in the electrical conductivity of materials - metals, semiconductors, and insulators that are showcased with the help of the energy band diagrams.
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Intrinsic semiconductors are highly pure materials with no impurities. At absolute zero, these semiconductors behave as perfect insulators because all the valence electrons are bound, and the conduction band is empty, disallowing electrical conduction. The Fermi level is a concept used to describe the probability of occupancy of energy levels by electrons at thermal equilibrium. In intrinsic semiconductors, the Fermi level is positioned at the midpoint of the energy gap at absolute zero. When...
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The contact of metal and semiconductor can lead to the formation of a junction with either Schottky or Ohmic behavior.
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Triplet Fusion Upconversion Nanocapsule Synthesis
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Engineering Efficient Photon Upconversion in Semiconductor Heterostructures.

Christopher C Milleville, Eric Y Chen, Kyle R Lennon

  • 1Department of Materials Science and Engineering , North Carolina State University , Raleigh , North Carolina 27606 , United States.

ACS Nano
|December 22, 2018
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Researchers developed a novel semiconductor heterostructure for photon upconversion, achieving a 100-fold efficiency increase. This breakthrough enhances applications in areas like solar energy and biomedical imaging.

Keywords:
core/rod/emittercoupled quantum dotsnanostructuressemiconductorssolar energyupconversion

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Area of Science:

  • Photophysics and Nanotechnology
  • Semiconductor Nanomaterials

Background:

  • Photon upconversion converts low-energy photons to high-energy ones, crucial for applications like solar energy harvesting and biomedical imaging.
  • Existing upconversion systems (lanthanide nanocrystals, triplet-triplet annihilation molecules) have limited efficiency (10-30%) due to narrow absorption and fixed energy levels.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To engineer improved photon upconversion efficiency using semiconductor heterostructure principles.
  • To develop a novel three-component heterostructure for efficient photon upconversion under continuous-wave and solar-relevant illumination.

Main Methods:

  • Synthesized a three-component heterostructure using cadmium selenide quantum dots (QDs) as absorber/emitter and a cadmium sulfide nanorod (NR) as a separator.
  • Engineered the heterostructure by eliminating electron trap states in the absorbing QD and tuning the NR band gap for efficient charge carrier funneling.

Main Results:

  • The synthesized heterostructure successfully upconverted photons under continuous-wave and solar-relevant photon fluxes.
  • Eliminating trap states and tailoring band alignment led to a significant 100-fold improvement in photon upconversion performance.
  • Demonstrated the potential of semiconductor heterostructure engineering for enhancing upconversion efficiency.

Conclusions:

  • Semiconductor heterostructure engineering offers a powerful approach to overcome limitations of current upconversion systems.
  • The developed QD-NR-QD heterostructure shows promise for next-generation photon upconversion technologies.
  • This work paves the way for more efficient light harvesting and advanced optical applications.