Prospects for strained type-II nanorod heterostructures

Recent advances allowing high-quality epitaxial heterointerfaces and delicately controlled shape anisotropy combined with versatile and scalable chemical synthesis make nanorod heterostructures (NRHs) appealing for various applications in photonics, electronics, and photovoltaics. When two distinct semiconductor materials with staggered band offsets are brought together in a NRH, the type-II heterojunction formed between them is expected to promote efficient separation of photogenerated carriers, and the shape anisotropy should provide directionality in guiding these separated charges. These characteristics of type-II NRHs are especially useful for solar energy harvesting. Here, we consider prospects of type-II NRHs for such applications, in particular, with a focus on an important yet often-overlooked feature of strain arising from the lattice mismatch in these materials.