Improving nanowire performance on solar cells

Product Design & Development (March 24) -- U. of I. researchers have achieved new levels of performance for seed-free and substrate-free arrays of nanowires from class of materials called III-V directly on graphene. These compound semiconductors hold particular promise for applications involving light, such as solar cells or lasers. “Over the past two decades, research in the field of semiconductor nanowires has helped to reshape our understanding of atomic-scale crystal assembly and uncover novel physical phenomena at the nanometer scale,” says Xiuling Li, a U. of I. professor of electrical and computer engineering. Also: eScience News (March 24), ScienceBlog (March 24), AzoNano.com (March 25), Tech Fragments (March 25), ECN Magazine (March 25), Compound Semiconductor Magazine (March 25), Science Codex (San Jose, Calif., March 24).