Biologically inspired band-edge laser action from semiconductor with dipole-forbidden band-gap transition

A new approach is proposed to light up band-edge stimulated emission arising from a semiconductor with dipole-forbidden band-gap transition. To illustrate our working principle, here we demonstrate the feasibility on the composite of SnO 2 nanowires (NWs) and chicken albumen. SnO 2 NWs, which merely emit visible defect emission, are observed to generate a strong ultraviolet fluorescence centered at 387 nm assisted by chicken albumen at room temperature. In addition, a stunning laser action is further discovered in the albumen/SnO 2 NWs composite system. The underlying mechanism is interpreted in terms of the fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) from the chicken albumen protein to SnO 2 NWs. More importantly, the giant oscillator strength of shallow defect states, which is served orders of magnitude larger than that of the free exciton, plays a decisive role. Our approach therefore shows that bio-materials exhibit a great potential in applications for novel light emitters, which may open up a new avenue for the development of bio-inspired optoelectronic devices.