Contact: Daniel Kane
dbkane@ucsd.edu
858-534-3262
University of California - San Diego
Caption: Schematic of the trapping and photoconduction mechanism in ZnO nanowires. At the top of each box are "energy band diagrams" ("b" represents the situation in darkness and "c" under UV illumination). In ZnO nanowires (as compared to some other semiconducting nanowires), the lifetime of the unpaired electrons is further inreased by oxygen molecules desorption from the surface when holes neutralize the oxygen ions.
Credit: UC San Diego
Usage Restrictions: UC San Diego
Related news release: Why nanowires make great photodetectors