Enhanced Cu<sub>2</sub>S/CdS Coaxial Nanowire Solar
Cells by Piezo-Phototronic Effect
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Abstract
Nanowire solar cells are promising candidates for powering
nanosystems
and flexible electronics. The strain in the nanowires, introduced
during growth, device fabrication and/or application, is an important
issue for piezoelectric semiconductor (like CdS, ZnO, and CdTe) based
photovoltaic. In this work, we demonstrate the first largely enhanced
performance of n-CdS/p-Cu<sub>2</sub>S coaxial nanowire photovoltaic
(PV) devices using the piezo-phototronics effect when the PV device
is subjected to an external strain. Piezo-phototronics effect could
control the electron–hole pair generation, transport, separation,
and/or recombination, thus enhanced the performance of the PV devices
by as high as 70%. This effect offers a new concept for improving
solar energy conversation efficiency by designing the orientation
of the nanowires and the strain to be purposely introduced in the
packaging of the solar cells. This study shed light on the enhanced
flexible solar cells for applications in self-powered technology,
environmental monitoring, and even defensive technology