In the realm of photodetector (PD) technology, photoelectrochemical (PEC) PDs have garnered attention owing to their inherent advantages. Advances in this field depend on functional nanostructured materials, which are pivotal in improving the separation and transport of photogenerated electron-hole pairs to improve device efficiency. Herein, a highly photosensitive PEC UV PD is built using integrated self-supporting SiC/ZnS heterojunction nanowire array photoelectrodes through anodization and chemical deposition. Compared with the original SiC nanoarrays, the optimized SiC/ZnS-25 nanoarrays exhibit high photocurrent density (Dph, 809.2 mu A cm-2), rapid rise/decay times (tau r/tau d, 4/21 ms), high responsivity (R lambda, 1.226 A W-1), remarkable detectivity (D*, 2.517 x 1011 Jones), and large external quantum efficiency (EQE, 40.57%) under 375 nm UV light with a bias voltage of 0.6 V. Furthermore, SiC/ZnS-25 delivers excellent self-powered performance, with R lambda, D*, and EQE reaching 0.91 A W-1, 1.69 x 1011 Jones, and 30.24%, respectively. In addition, the device exhibits excellent long-term operation and aging stability under a bias voltage of 0.6 V and under self-powered conditions. The excellent photodetection behaviors of the SiC/ZnS PEC PD are mainly ascribed to the synergistic effect of the novel well-aligned nanowire geometry, heterojunction with ZnS nanofilms of optimal thickness, and integrated self-supporting configuration of the photoelectrode.

Glassy carbon plates were irradiated with 15keV H+ ion-beam in the fluence range of 1×1016–3×1018ioncm−2. The influence of ion irradiation on surface morphology and topology was examined by scanning electron and atomic force microscopy. Structural changes were monitored by Raman spectrometry, while changes of wettability and the content of surface oxygen complexes were examined by contact angle measurements and temperature programmed desorption. Elastic recoil detection analysis was applied for determination of hydrogen concentration profiles in irradiated samples. Cyclic voltammetry was used for the assessment of the electrochemical properties of modified glassy carbon electrodes. It was concluded that there is critical fluence range (2×1017–5×1017ioncm−2) inside of which significant changes of glassy carbon properties occur.

We have analyzed the influence of Dresselhaus and Rashba spin-orbit couplings (caused by the bulk inversion asymmetry and the structural asymmetry, respectively) on electron tunneling through a double- and triple-barrier structures, with and without an externally applied electric field. The results indicate that the degree of structural asymmetry and external electric field can greatly affect the dwell times of electrons with opposite spin orientation. This opens up the possibilities of obtaining efficient spin separation in the time domain. The material system of choice is AlxGa1−xSb, and the presented model takes into account the position dependence of material parameters, as well as the effects of band nonparabolicity.

Optically pumped mid-infrared intresubband lasers in magnetic field are considered. The rate equation model is set up to include electron scattering with acoustic and polar optical phonons in the magnetic field. A strongly non-monotonic gain vs. field dependence is found, with gain peaks occurring at fields which bring appropriate states into resonance with optical phonons, opening additional relaxation paths. These peaks exceed the gain achievable in the structure under zero-field conditions.