Growth of axial nested P–N heterojunction nanowires for high performance diodes

Abstract

Heterojunction nanomaterials have attracted the interest of numerous scientists and engineers to explore the fundamental scientific understanding of the formation of heterojunction nanostructures, their special properties with enhanced electrical and optical performance and the relationship between the functionality and the molecular structures. In this work, we synthesized novel axial nested P–N heterojunction nanowires combining the inorganic semiconductor PbS and the organic conjugated polymer polypyrrole (PPy). The nested P–N heterojunction nanowires (NWs) show a higher rectification ratio (exceeding 100), long-term stability and high unilateral conductivity due to the bigger area of junction produced.