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Strain-engineered artificial atom as a broad-spectrum solar energy funnel

Nature Photonics volume 6, pages 866–872 (2012)Cite this article

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Abstract

An optoelectronic material with a spatially varying bandgap that is tunable is highly desirable for use in photovoltaics, photocatalysis and photodetection. Elastic strain has the potential to be used to achieve rapid and reversible tuning of the bandgap. However, as a result of plasticity or fracture, conventional materials cannot sustain a high enough elastic strain to create sufficient changes in their physical properties. Recently, an emergent class of materials—named ‘ultrastrength materials’—have been shown to avoid inelastic relaxation up to a significant fraction of their ideal strength. Here, we illustrate theoretically and computationally that elastic strain is a viable agent for creating a continuously varying bandgap profile in an initially homogeneous, atomically thin membrane. We propose that a photovoltaic device made from a strain-engineered MoS2 monolayer will capture a broad range of the solar spectrum and concentrate excitons or charge carriers.

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Figure 1: Introducing inhomogeneous strain and classifying funnelling mechanisms.
Figure 2: Strain-dependent electronic and optical properties of MoS2 monolayer.
Figure 3: Structural and physical properties of nanoindented MoS2 monolayer.
Figure 4: Schematic of charge extraction near the centre of the atomic membrane.

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Acknowledgements

The authors appreciate helpful discussions with S.G. Johnson and M. Loncar, and acknowledge support from the NSF (DMR-1120901) and AFOSR (FA9550-08-1-0325), as well as NSFC Project 11174009 and 973 Programs of China (2010CB631003, 2011CBA00109, 2012CB619402, 2013CB921900).

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Author notes

  1. Ji Feng and Xiaofeng Qian: These authors contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

    Ji Feng

  2. Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 02139, Massachusetts, USA

    Xiaofeng Qian, Cheng-Wei Huang & Ju Li

  3. State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials and Frontier Institute of Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710049, China

    Ju Li

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Contributions

J.L. designed the project. J.F., X.F.Q. and C.W.H. carried out the calculations and the modelling. J.F., X.F.Q. and J.L. wrote the paper. All authors contributed to discussions of the results.

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Correspondence to Ju Li.

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Feng, J., Qian, X., Huang, CW. et al. Strain-engineered artificial atom as a broad-spectrum solar energy funnel. Nature Photon 6, 866–872 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2012.285

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