Christina M. Jones

Nanostructured all-solid-state supercapacitor based on Li2S-P2S5 glass-ceramic electrolyte

While today’s lithium-ion batteries offer acceptable energy storage capability, they lack the ability to be cycled repeatedly more than a couple thousand times. Electrochemical capacitors, i.e., supercapacitors, are being developed whose lifetimes exceed 1 × 106 cycles and power densities surpass those of batteries by several times. Here, we present an all-solid-state supercapacitor using a Li2S-P2S5 glass-ceramic electrolyte as both separator and ion conductor. Three device architectures are examined including two with nanostructured electrodes which incorporate multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). Cyclic voltammograms and electrochemical impedance measurements demonstrate that these devices develop reversible double layer capacitance, and a maximum of 7.75 F/g is achieved in the device constructed by mechanically mixing the nanostructured electrodes. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy explains non-idealities observed when MWCNTs are incorporated in the electrode layers.

Deep ultraviolet emission from ultra-thin GaN/AlN heterostructures

We present the theoretical and experimental results for the electronic and optical properties of atomically thin (1 and 2 monolayers) GaN quantum wells with AlN barriers. Strong quantum confinement increases the gap of GaN to as high as 5.44 eV and enables light emission in the deep-UV range. Luminescence occurs from the heavy and light hole bands of GaN yielding E ⊥ c polarized light emission. Strong confinement also increases the exciton binding energy up to 230 meV, preventing a thermal dissociation of excitons at room temperature. However, we did not observe excitons experimentally due to high excited free-carrier concentrations. Monolayer-thick GaN wells also exhibit a large electron-hole wave function overlap and negligible Stark shift, which is expected to enhance the radiative recombination efficiency. Our results indicate that atomically thin GaN/AlN heterostructures are promising for efficient deep-UV optoelectronic devices.

Impact of carrier localization on recombination in InGaN quantum wells and the efficiency of nitride light-emitting diodes: Insights from theory and numerical simulations

We examine the effect of carrier localization due to random alloy fluctuations on the radiative and Auger recombination rates in InGaN quantum wells as a function of alloy composition, crystal orientation, carrier density, and temperature. Our results show that alloy fluctuations reduce individual transition matrix elements by the separate localization of electrons and holes, but this effect is overcompensated by the additional transitions enabled by translational symmetry breaking and the resulting lack of momentum conservation. Hence, we find that localization increases both radiative and Auger recombination rates, but that Auger recombination rates increase by one order of magnitude more than radiative rates. Furthermore, we demonstrate that localization has an overall detrimental effect on the efficiency-droop and green-gap problems of InGaN LEDs.

Effect of strain on band alignment of GaAsSb/GaAs quantum wells

GaAsSb/GaAs quantum wells are of great interest for optical communications; however, their band alignment properties are not fully understood, particularly at 35% Sb alloy concentration used for emission at 1.3 μm. We use device simulation methods based on the 8 × 8 k·p theory to explore the effects of GaAsSb/GaAs quantum well composition, width, and strain on the band alignment. Strain-relaxed wells demonstrate type-I alignment and pseudomorphic wells demonstrate type-II alignment, regardless of quantum-well composition or thickness for wells wider than 3 nm. For partially strain-relaxed wells, we determine the band alignment as a function of the interplay of composition, width, and strain. Our calculated results at various strain conditions agree well with published experimental data. This work provides insight on band alignment of GaAsSb/GaAs quantum wells, as well as of embedded quantum dots with strong confinement along the out-of-plane direction.GaAsSb/GaAs quantum wells are of great interest for optical communications; however, their band alignment properties are not fully understood, particularly at 35% Sb alloy concentration used for emission at 1.3 μm. We use device simulation methods based on the 8 × 8 k·p theory to explore the effects of GaAsSb/GaAs quantum well composition, width, and strain on the band alignment. Strain-relaxed wells demonstrate type-I alignment and pseudomorphic wells demonstrate type-II alignment, regardless of quantum-well composition or thickness for wells wider than 3 nm. For partially strain-relaxed wells, we determine the band alignment as a function of the interplay of composition, width, and strain. Our calculated results at various strain conditions agree well with published experimental data. This work provides insight on band alignment of GaAsSb/GaAs quantum wells, as well as of embedded quantum dots with strong confinement along the out-of-plane direction.