Dilute nitride III-V nanowires for high-efficiency intermediate-band photovoltaic cells: Materials requirements, self-assembly methods and properties

This paper deals with dilute nitride III-V (III-N-V) semiconductor nanowires and their synthesis by bottom-up (so-called self-assembly) methods for application to novel and high efficiency intermediate-band solar cells (IBSCs). Nanowire-IBSCs based on III-N-V compounds promise to overcome many of the limitations encountered so far in quantum-dots or planar-heterostructure IBSCs; indeed, thanks to the combination of IBSC functionality with the unique physical properties associated with nanowires-based devices, photovoltaic cells with unprecedentedly high power conversion efficiency, simpler junction geometry, reduced structural constraints, low materials usage and fabrication costs could be conceived. The fabrication of III-N-V nanowire-IBSCs requires however, careful engineering of the inner nanowire-device structures to comply with both IBSC stringent operational requirements and the peculiar physical properties of III-N-V semiconductor alloys. Herewith, we propose for the first time perspective III-N-V core-multishell nanowire heterostructures as potential candidates to IBSC applications, their fabrication requiring however, precisely controlled self-assembly technologies. The present status of research on the topic is reviewed, focusing in particular on the bottom-up growth of III-N-V nanowires by molecular beam and metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy methods and properties of as-grown nanostructures. Major results achieved in the current literature and open problems are presented and discussed, along with advantages and limitations of employed self-assembly methods for the fabrication of dilute nitride III-V based nanowire-IBSCs.