Depleted semiconductor quantum nanowire in an electrolytic medium

Abstract

It is shown that electron lateral confinement leading to formation subbands (SBs) can be readily achieved by surrounding a doped semiconductor nanowire in an electrolytic medium. When the wire radius is comparable or less than the extrinsic Debye length, almost complete depletion occurs creating an electron confining exact harmonic oscillator potential. As ground state energy, SB splitting and spatial extent of the ground state wavefunction as well as the Debye length are determined by the material properties, i.e. dielectric constant, effective electron mass and doping density, the conditions under which SB effects would manifest can be clearly specified. It is suggested that the SB formation originating from the above effect could become noticeable in porous nanocrystalline composite SnO 2–ZnO films permeated with an electrolyte.