Advanced Materials

Spotlight on etching: (11-22) semipolar GaN plane light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are demonstrated using a wet-etching process. A trigonal prism cell structure with a (0001) c plane and nnn{10-10} m planes is formed after KOH wet etching, and leads to a better ohmic contact and enhanced light extraction. LEDs fabricated by wet etching show excellent output performance 1.89 times higher than that of the reference LEDs.

One-dimensional arrays of gold quantum dots (QDs) on insulating boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) can form conduction channels of tunneling field-effect transistors. We demonstrate that tunneling currents can be modulated at room temperature by tuning the lengths of QD-BNNTs and the gate potentials. Our discovery will inspire the creative use of nanostructured metals and insulators for future electronic devices.

All-solid-state donor/acceptor planar-heterojunction (PHJ) hybrid solar cells are constructed and their excellent performance measured. The deposition of a thin C₆₀ fullerene or fullerene-derivative (acceptor) layer in vacuum on a CH₃NH₃PbI₃ perovskite (donor) layer creates a hybrid PHJ that displays the photovoltaic effect. Such heterojunctions are shown to be suitable for the development of newly structured, hybrid, efficient solar cells.

Self-cleaning on various surfaces is obtained using the facile approach of modifying the surface with a thin organogel film. The film not only absorbs oil but also holds it in a crosslinked network, which endows the material with an excellent self-cleaning ability. This facile method can be applied to various common engineering metals.

3D interdigitated microbattery architectures (3D-IMA) are fabricated by printing concentrated lithium oxide-based inks. The microbatteries are composed of interdigitated, high-aspect ratio cathode and anode structures. Our 3D-IMA, which exhibit high areal energy and power densities, may find potential application in autonomously powered microdevices.