Semiconductor nano structures have tunable magnetic and light harvesting capabilities that improve the photo catalytic transformation of water into hydrogen fuel--a technology invaluable for the solar industry.
This research has been published in the journal Nano Energy by Hui Pan and Yong-Wei Zhang from the STAR Institute of High Performance Computing. "If this design proves efficient in both theory and experiment, we would then look for commercial applications by collaborating with industry." The researchers said (reference).
Abstract from the paper:
In hetero-nano-structures of solid state materials, the reconstruction of charge and spin at the interface can strongly affect the electronic and magnetic properties of the system. The nano materials with diverse functions can be achieved by precisely controlling the atomic structure and composition at the interface. Here, they present that the ferromagnetism and band-gap can be controlled by engineering the interfaces in non-magnetic semiconductor (GaN/ZnO) super-lattice nano wires. They show that ferromagnetic p-type Zn–N interface can be developed by creating defects at the n-type Ga–O interface because of the defect-induced polar discontinuity. They further show that the band-gaps of the super-lattice nano wires are narrowed with the formation of intermediate bands within the band-gaps, resulting in the enhancement of visible-light absorption. These nano-structures may find applications in photo catalyst for water splitting because of the improvement of carrier mobility and light absorption.
Article Source: GaN/ZnO superlattice nanowires as photocatalyst for hydrogen generation: A first-principles study on electronic and magnetic properties.
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