A Flexible, High-Voltage (>100 V) Generating Device Based on Zebra-Like Asymmetrical Photovoltaic Cascade

The mutual conversion between light and electricity lies at the heart of optoelectronic and photonic applications. Maximization of the photoelectric conversion is a long-term goal that can be pursued via the fabrication of devices with ad-hoc architectures. In this framework, it is of utter importance to harvest and transform light irradiation into high electric potential in specific area for driving functional dielectrics that respond to pure electric field. Here, a nano-fabrication technology has been devised featuring double self-alignment that is applied to construct zebra-like asymmetric heterojunction arrays. Such nanostructured composite, which covers a surface area of 5 × 4 mm² and contains 500 periodic repeating units, is capable of photo generating voltages as high as 140 V on a flexible substrate. This approach represents a leap over the traditional functionalization process based on simply embedding materials into devices by demonstrating the disruptive potential of integrating oriented nanoscale device components into meta-material.