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Detailed balance calculations are presented for a-Si:H/μc-Si:H-based single- and tandem-junction single-nanowire solar cells (S- and T-SNSCs). Our study is based on three-dimensional finite-element electromagnetic simulation and thermodynamic balanced analysis, which includes radiative and Auger recombinations simultaneously. We quantify and compare the limiting short-circuit current densities, open-circuit voltages, and light-conversion efficiencies of these highly compact photovoltaic cells, addressing especially the effect of Auger recombination on the open-circuit voltages of SNSCs. Results show that tandem design leads to much higher light-conversion capability than μc-Si:H S-SNSCs, but exhibits superior performance than a-Si:H S-SNSCs only for cells with large radii.

Single-nanowire photodetectors (SNPDs) are mostly propelled by p-n junctions, where the detection wavelength is constrained by the band-gap width. Here, we present a simple doping-free metal/semiconductor/metal SNPD, which shows strong detection tunability without such a material constraint. The proposed hot-electron SNPD exhibits superior optical and electrical advantages, i.e., optically the coaxial design leads to a strong asymmetrical photoabsorption and results in a high unidirectional photocurrent, as desired by the hot-electron collection; electrically the hot-electrons are generated in the region very close to the barrier, facilitating the electrical transport. Rigorous calculations predict an unbiased photoresponsivity of ∼200 nA/mW.

Single-nanowire solar cells (SNSCs) have attracted considerable attention due to their unique light-harvesting capability mediated by the optical antenna effect and the high photoconversion efficiency due to the orthogonalization of the carrier collection to the photon incidence. We present a detailed prediction of the light-conversion efficiency of Si SNSCs based on finite-element simulation and thermodynamic balance analysis, with especially focusing on the comparison between SNSCs and film systems. Carrier losses due to radiative and Auger recombinations are introduced in the analysis of the limiting efficiency, which show that the Auger recombination plays a key role in accurately predicting the efficiency of Si SNSCs, otherwise, the device performance would be strongly overestimated. The study paves a more realistic way to evaluate the nanostructured solar cells based on indirect-band photoactive materials.

A numerical investigation on the third-order nonlinear optical properties of a plasmonic system composed by metal film-coupled nanowires is reported. The linear and nonlinear optical characteristics are studied by finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. To substantially improve the nonlinear effect, the geometric parameters of the system are carefully engineered to excite strong plasmon gap resonance with dramatically enhanced electric field intensity at the gap between the nanowires and the film. The third-harmonic generation (THG) property is examined by nonlinear FDTD simulation. It shows that the THG efficiency estimated from the nonlinear optical absorption can be ∼1 × 10−5 under an incident power density of 5.2 GW/cm2. Plasmonic resonance is necessary to achieve highly efficient THG since the system on resonance shows the THG intensity 4 orders of magnitude higher than that of an off-resonance system.