The Concept of Pressure-Induced Conduction Band Mismatch in Soft-Hard Semiconductors for Self-Powered Phototronic Pressure Sensing
Article
Nguyen, Duy Van, Tran, Thi Lap, Nguyen,Hung, Chen, Guoliang, Lai, The Khanh, Song, Pingan, Tran, Toan Trong, Tran, Canh-Dung, Bell, John and Dinh, Toan. 2025. "The Concept of Pressure-Induced Conduction Band Mismatch in Soft-Hard Semiconductors for Self-Powered Phototronic Pressure Sensing." ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces. 17 (22), pp. 32827-32837. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.5c05066
| Article Title | The Concept of Pressure-Induced Conduction Band Mismatch in Soft-Hard Semiconductors for Self-Powered Phototronic Pressure Sensing |
|---|---|
| ERA Journal ID | 40638 |
| Article Category | Article |
| Authors | Nguyen, Duy Van, Tran, Thi Lap, Nguyen,Hung, Chen, Guoliang, Lai, The Khanh, Song, Pingan, Tran, Toan Trong, Tran, Canh-Dung, Bell, John and Dinh, Toan |
| Journal Title | ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces |
| Journal Citation | 17 (22), pp. 32827-32837 |
| Number of Pages | 11 |
| Year | 2025 |
| Publisher | American Chemical Society |
| Place of Publication | United States |
| ISSN | 1944-8244 |
| 1944-8252 | |
| Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.5c05066 |
| Web Address (URL) | https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acsami.5c05066 |
| Abstract | Self-powered pressure sensors are essential devices for health care monitoring, human–machine interface, and robotics in this era of the Internet of Things. Self-powered phototronic mechanical sensors typically utilize piezoelectric materials, such as ZnO, wherein stress-induced charges alter the energy barrier height at the interface of two contacting materials. However, relying solely on piezoelectric materials could restrict the further development of high-sensitivity sensors due to the screening effect, which requires exploration of sensing mechanisms beyond those materials. This study introduces the concept of conduction band mismatch in soft–hard cubic-silicon carbide (3C-SiC) semiconductors, which controls charge transport in SiC nanomembranes under light illumination for self-powered phototronic pressure sensing. The concept is verified through mechanical simulation and experimental results under different light-illuminating conditions and varying pressure levels. Utilizing this concept, supported by aligned carbon nanotube (ACNT) nanofilms acting as a hole collector, the photovoltage generated in 3C-SiC/ACNTs becomes highly sensitive to pressure. The 3C-SiC/ACNTs pressure sensor exhibited a decent sensitivity of 35 mV/MPa, two to six times higher than that of ZnO/Si and Si/SiC devices. The sensitivity is also tunable by light intensity and independent of the pressure direction. The underlying physics is the pressure-induced tensile strain in 3C-SiC that alters its conduction band profile and causes photogenerated electron redistribution. This study can advance phototronics technologies for ultrasensitive, self-powered pressure sensors. |
| Keywords | carbon nanotubes; phototronic; cubic-silicon carbide membrane; pressure sensors; self-powered |
| Related Output | |
| Is part of | Nanostructured carbon-based materials for wearable sensors in human biophysical monitoring |
| Contains Sensitive Content | Does not contain sensitive content |
| ANZSRC Field of Research 2020 | 400906. Electronic sensors |
| Public Notes | Files associated with this item cannot be displayed due to copyright restrictions. |
This article is part of a UniSQ Thesis by publication. See Related Output. | |
| Byline Affiliations | School of Engineering |
| Centre for Future Materials | |
| University of Technology Sydney |
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