Symposium EN02—III-V Semiconductors for Energy Conversion Technologies

III-V semiconductors (with cation as Al/Ga/In, and anion as N/P/As/Sb) while traditionally explored for electronic and photonic devices, have not seen much development for energy conversion technologies apart from multijunction photovoltaic stacks. Due to their superior light absorption, charge transfer, bandgap energy tunability, epitaxial crystal relationships, and single crystal nanoscale growth properties, this materials system offers promise within integration in a variety of energy conversion technologies. This includes photovoltaics, solar-to-fuels systems, thermophotovoltaics, and betavoltaics. Therefore, an emerging nexus of materials growth, device development, and systems engineering around III-V semiconductors for these energy conversion applications has the potential to shape these technologies in the present and future, and form a research core of utilizing these materials in novel ways to support development for a variety of energy conversion systems. This symposium will bring together researchers in III-V materials growth, materials characterization, device design, systems applications, and broader overviews in renewable energy and resource utilization with these materials.

• Molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) of III-V semiconductors for energy conversion
• Alternative crystal growth methods, such as electrochemical crystal growth, colloidal nanocrystal synthesis, liquid phase epitaxy, halide chemical vapor deposition, and vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) nanowire growth
• Characterization methods in determining structure and properties, including in-situ methods
• Modeling methods, including molecular dynamics (MD) for crystal growth and device/band engineering modeling for junctions
• III-V semiconductors in photovoltaics; with variants for thermophotovoltaics and betavoltaics
• Interface engineering of III-V materials with electrocatalysts and electrolytes for solar-to-fuels technologies
• Modeling and experiments of coupling III-V semiconductors to non-conventional primary power sources (e.g. IR radiation and beta particle emitters)
• Integration with non-conventional/non-epitaxial substrates in device implementation
• Processing technologies around III-V crystals for energy applications integration
• Systems-level coupling to energy storage systems
• Technoeconomic analysis of using III-V materials for energy conversion (resource cost, efficiency and other metrics), synthesis and manufacturing methods to reduce cost
• Investigations of micro/nanoscale morphologies on performance
• Earth-abundant alternatives to III-V semiconductors

• Rebecca Anthony (Michigan State University, USA)
• Harry Atwater (California Institute of Technology, USA)
• Ned Ekins-Daukes (University of New South Wales, Australia)
• Anna Fontcuberta i Morral (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland)
• Sophia Haussener (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland)
• Hannah Joyce (Cambridge University, United Kingdom)
• Rehan Kapadia (University of Southern California, USA)
• Minjoo Lawrence Lee (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA)
• Marina Leite (University of California, Davis, USA)
• Stephen Maldonado (University of Michigan–Ann Arbor, USA)
• Zetian Mi (University of Michigan–Ann Arbor, USA)
• Sudha Mokkapati (Monash University, Australia)
• Aaron Ptak (National Renewable Energy Laboratory, USA)
• Michael Spencer (Morgan State University, USA)
• Myles Steiner (National Renewable Energy Laboratory, USA)
• Mahendra Sunkara (University of Louisville, USA)
• Kimberly Dick Thelander (Lund University, Sweden)
• Xiaowang Zhou (Sandia National Laboratories, USA)