Printable GaAs NWs for Highly Efficient, Low-Cost, Large-Scale, and Flexible Photovoltaics

In recent years, portable electronics have become an integral part of our modern life. Tremendous efforts have been devoted to develop devices with their own embedded power sources. It is anticipated that semiconductor nanowires (NWs) will play an essential role in the future of portable photovoltaics due to their unique physical properties. Through integration with plastics, printable NWs enable light-weight, low-cost, large-scale, and flexible solar cells with similar energy conversion efficiencies compared to thin-film semiconductor planar structures. However, many challenges still remain in the synthesis, assembly, and device-performance characterization of photovoltaics based on these synthetic nanostructures. In this proposal, we will emphasize gallium arsenide (GaAs) NW solar cells with an expected efficiency³8%. The aim is to address these challenges through a series of well designed studies which yields better understanding of crystalline inorganic nanomaterials based flexible solar cells relevant to photovoltaic-related industries in Hong Kong and elsewhere.