Green Technologies and Sustainability (Sep 2024)
Optoelectronics’ quantum leap: Unveiling the breakthroughs driving high-performance devices
Abstract
The field of optoelectronics has undergone a remarkable transformation, fueled by the escalating demand for high-performance devices serving a multitude of applications, such as sensing, imaging, communication, and energy harvesting. This review explores the exceptional growth of optoelectronics and the pivotal breakthroughs that have led to a quantum leap in its capabilities. Novel materials, including two-dimensional wonders like graphene and perovskite solar cells, have played a fundamental role in redefining the boundaries of optoelectronics. These materials exhibit extraordinary optical and electrical properties, enabling the development of devices with unprecedented performance levels. Heterostructures, at the crossroads of different materials, have unlocked new opportunities for device design. By combining materials with complementary properties, researchers have engineered structures that manipulate electron and photon flow, resulting in highly efficient and versatile optoelectronic devices. Innovative device architectures have complemented these breakthroughs, pushing the boundaries of speed, efficiency, and functionality in optoelectronics. Applications across industries, from medical imaging to communication networks and renewable energy systems, are benefiting from these advancements. The article concludes by emphasizing the ongoing potential for innovation in the field of optoelectronics, reminding us of the limitless capacity of science and technology to reshape our world and shape the technologies of the future.