Holonyak Lab postdoc published for work in novel GaN growth

12/17/2020 Lizzie Roehrs

HMNTL Postdoctoral Researcher Ali Johar was recently published in Advanced Energy Materials, a journal covering energy-related research.

Written by Lizzie Roehrs

HMNTL Postdoctoral Researcher Ali Johar was recently published in Advanced Energy Materials, a journal covering energy-related research. Johar’s research investigates Gallium Nitride (GaN) growth, specifically adopting a novel approach by utilizing monolayer graphene as a single crystal substrate on low melting temperature metal. The low-temperature growth is achieved by utilizing the alloy catalyst using a vapor-liquid-solid approach for nanowires. This could enable more efficient power for a variety of electronics such as car monitors or small medical devices. HMNTL Postdoc Ali Johar

“This work is beyond the traditional boundary of Epi grower’s concept that single crystal GaN can be grown only on single crystal substrates,” says Johar. “This work is beyond the traditional boundary of Epi grower’s concept that single crystal GaN can be grown only on single crystal substrates.  Additionally, such piezoelectric properties underline its potential for practical applications to power up wireless sensor networks and other electronic gadgets.”

Johar says that this approach eliminates several device processing steps because it incorporates direct growth on the metallic substrate. This method can be used to fabricate optical devices like LEDs and PDs, but the products of this research could be used in many different fields.

“This work can be used to fabricate energy harvesters or sensors,” says Johar. “It has many applications such as being used to monitor tire pressure in automobiles. It could be used to power up portable electronic gadgets by utilizing biomedical actuation sources or it could be used for in-vivo and in-vitro application to generate power for pacemakers in the human heart.”

Johar says that publishing is important because it’s the first report of this GaN nanowire growth on Copper (Cu) foil using Metal-Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD). This work paves the way for other researchers to fabricate electronic and optical devices processing very high mechanical stability.

“It took us about two years to complete the characterizations especially the stability evaluation,” says Johar. “Therefore, it feels privileged to see my work published in a very prestigious journal Advanced Energy Materials.”


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This story was published December 17, 2020.