Piezo-phototronic effect is a three-way coupling effect of piezoelectric, semiconductor and photonic properties in non-central symmetric semiconductor materials, using the piezoelectric potential (piezopotential) that is generated by applying a strain to a semiconductor with piezoelectricity to control the carrier generation, transport, separation and/or recombination at metal–semiconductor junction or p–n junction for improving the performance of optoelectronic devices, such as photodetector, solar cell and light-emitting diode. Prof. Zhong Lin Wang at Georgia Institute of Technology proposed the fundamental principle of this effect in 2010.