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Wednesday, 4th November 2009 (399 views)

Gold has been used in a new manufacturing method for producing nanowires that could revolutionise nanoelectronics and lead to the development of highly efficient solar cells.

Peter Krogstrup, a PhD student at the Nano-Science Center of the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen, developed the technique during his dissertation, Nanowerk reports.

Nanowires are cultivated in a vacuum chamber. A gold droplet is laid on a thin disc containing two semiconductor materials - gallium indium arsenide and indium arsenide - and the nanowire grows up from below.

In the past, the semiconductor materials would mix in the gold droplet, creating a "soft transition". With the new method, the materials can come from the underside of the gold droplet, eliminating mixing and creating a "sharp transition".

This means current, in the form of electrons, can travel between the gallium indium arsenide and the indium arsenide with high efficiency.

These more efficient nanowires could be used in solar cells to convert more of the sun's energy into electricity, Mr Krogstrup said.

"When we manufacture nanowires of gallium indium arsenide and indium arsenide, which each have their own absorption area, they can collectively capture energy from a much wider area," he explained.

Opened in 2001, the University of Copenhagen's Nano-Science Centre has around 10,000 students.

 

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