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The Advantage of Nanowire Configuration in Band Structure Determination
Author(s) -
Dimitrievska Mirjana,
Hage Fredrik S.,
Escobar Steinvall Simon,
Litvinchuk Alexander P.,
Stutz Elias Z.,
Ramasse Quentin M.,
Fontcuberta i Morral Anna
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
advanced functional materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.069
H-Index - 322
eISSN - 1616-3028
pISSN - 1616-301X
DOI - 10.1002/adfm.202105426
Subject(s) - materials science , electron energy loss spectroscopy , nanowire , scanning transmission electron microscopy , semiconductor , nanotechnology , spectroscopy , electronic band structure , high resolution transmission electron microscopy , optoelectronics , transmission electron microscopy , mean free path , scanning electron microscope , electron , condensed matter physics , composite material , physics , quantum mechanics
Abstract Earth‐abundant and environmentally friendly semiconductors offer a promising path toward low‐cost mass production of solar cells. A critical aspect in exploring new semiconducting materials and demonstrating their enhanced functionality consists in disentangling them from the artifacts of defects. Nanowires are diameter‐tailored filamentary structures that tend to be defect‐free and thus ideal model systems for a given material. Here, an additional advantage is demostrated, which is the determination of the band structure, by performing high energy and spatial resolution electron energy‐loss spectroscopy in aloof and inner beam geometry in a scanning transmission electron microscope. The experimental results are complemented by spectroscopic ellipsometry and are excellently correlated with first principles calculations. This study opens the path for characterizing the band structure of new compounds in a non‐destructive and prompt manner, strengthening the route of new materials discovery.