Exploring new physics in photon-photoelectron interactions on micropatterned, orderly branched zinc oxide nanostructures

by Chism, Tyler; Torix, Garrett; Tian, Ryan

Exploring new basic surface photoelectrochem. always stays as the forefront in solar-energy conversion's science and technol. Here we report for the first time that hierarchically hyper-branched Zinc Oxide 3D-nanostructures have been grown on a gold micropatterned substrate, for investigating how the photons would interact with photoelectrons. By tuning biased voltages in either DC or AC, we obsd. several interesting electronic-photonic phenomena that are indicatives of the interaction's new aspects never reported by anyone in literature. Astonishingly, the photo-absorbance of the ZnO seems to be a new function of the elec. field,-magnetic field, light wavelength and intensity, and tunable widely on the ZnO. On this basis, our currently ongoing work aims to gain a better understanding of new fundamental in electrochem. photonics, in order to help design and develop more efficient solar-cell and new light-manipulating devices.