Low dimension organic/inorganic hybrids of nanostructures are materials that combination of functional organic molecules and inorganic molecules to produce new class organic/inorganic solid materials which have distinct properties that were not observed in the individual component on nanosize and their bulk materials. This may include either new or improved chemical and physical properties that can be exploited for fabricating novel nanoscale devices. As it is known that the P-N junctions are of great importance both in modern electronic applications and in understanding other semiconductor devices.  Recently the researchers of CAS Key Laboratory of Organic Solids have successfully fabricated the organic/inorganic semiconductor P-N junction nanowire and discovered the remarkable performance on light controlled diode within a single hybrid P-N junction nanowire.

They chose the p-type organic semiconductor of PPY (polypyrrole) and n-type inorganic semiconductor of CdS to prepare heterojunction nanowires. These nanowires are well-defined, with a smooth surface and a clear interface between organic and inorganic materials. Such prepared hybrid semiconductor P-N junction nanowire shows strong photodependent rectifying effect. And the conducting property of the organic/inorganic P-N junction nanowire can be tuned by changing the intensities of incident light. The novel concept and interesting photoelectrical property of P-N junction will have great influence in both the basic research field of nanoscience and the device application field of nanotechnology. The research work was highlighted by Chemical & Engineering News 2008，86(30), 50 as Science & Technology Concentrates and NPG Asia Materials immediately, after the publication of this work by J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2008, 130, 9198–9199.

J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2008, 130, 9198–9199.

SEM images of CdS-PPY heterojunction nanowires and typical I-V curves for a single CdS-PPY heterojunction nanowire under light illumination with different intensities.