Nanoscale p–n junctions based on p-type ZnSe nanowires and their optoelectronic applications

Abstract

A facile method was developed to construct nanoscale p–n junction by directly transferring the p-ZnSeNWs onto a SiO2/n-Si substrate with pre-defined Si patterns. In spite of such a simple direct physical contact method, ZnSeNW/Si p–n junction exhibits pronounced rectifying behavior with a rectification ratio of 400 within the voltage range of ±4V in the dark. Furthermore, the nanoscale p–n junction displays excellent photovoltaic characteristics with a power conversion efficiency of 2.87%, which is superior to the previous reports on the single II-VI group NW/ NR based solar cells. It is expected that the ZnSeNW/Si p–n junction will have important applications in high-performance nano-optoelectronic devices.