Plasmonic Solar Research Articles

Jerusalem Cross Metamaterial-Based Nano-engineered Plasmonic Solar Absorber with Polarization Insensitivity and Ultrawideband Performance

Jerusalem Cross Metamaterial-Based Nano-engineered Plasmonic Solar Absorber with Polarization Insensitivity and Ultrawideband Performance

Design and Analysis of Plasmonic Solar Absorber for Visible and Infrared Spectrum

Design and Analysis of Plasmonic Solar Absorber for Visible and Infrared Spectrum

Efficiency Enhancement and Life Cycle Assessment of 2D/3D Mixed-Dimensional Tin Perovskite Plasmonic Solar Cells

Efficiency Enhancement and Life Cycle Assessment of 2D/3D Mixed-Dimensional Tin Perovskite Plasmonic Solar Cells

Plasmonic Solar Energy Harvesting by ZnO Nanostructures and Their Composite Interfaces: A Review on Fundamentals, Recent Advances, and Applications

Zinc oxide is one of the inexpensive semiconductors with rich electronic and optical properties. It is studied in energy applications for a long time. The wide bandgap of ZnO either needs structural change or sensitizing via quantum dots, dyes, or metallic nanoparticles (through the plasmonic effect) to absorb visible light for applications in solar energy harvesting devices. This review provides a fundamental insight of plasmonic visible light harvesting by ZnO and an account of recent advances in solar photovoltaic, photoelectrochemical water splitting, and other photoredox activities, such as water quality enhancement and CO2 reduction.

Some Preliminary Results of the Synthesis and Investigation of the Glass/FTO/Si/Au/ Embedded Thin Film for Application in the Modified Plasmonic Solar Cell

This paper outlines the synthesis of the glass/FTO/Au/ and of the glass/FTO/Si/Au/ nanoparticles embedded thin films and then outlines some obtained experiment results concerning their properties of surface morphology, structure, chemical composition and optical absorption in comparison. Based on the measured results of SEM, EDX, XRD and UV-VIS spectroscopy we observed that the structure of the sputtered Si layer is amorphous phase meanwhile the structure of the sputtered Au layer is crystallized phase. Depending on the sputtered layers (Si, Au) thicknesses and technological conditions the different surfaces morphologies of the Au flat surface layer or the Au bumpy surface layer with different sizes of nanoparticles /clusters are formed on both the samples surfaces of FTO and amorphous Si layers. Notably, the optical absorption spectra of glass/FTO/Si/Au thin film in both cases of thermal annealing and without thermal annealing are significantly enhanced and shifted to blue- and red regions, these results can be explained by the role of the amorphous Si layer, as well as the Si/Au Schottky layers/nanoparticles barrier configurations caused. The glass/FTO/Si/Au layer/nanoparticles thin films could be used for integration with the core structure (Au/TiO2) of plasmonic solar cell for aiming to enhance the solar cell performance.

Effect of Various Shapes of Silver Nanoparticles on the Performance of Plasmonic Solar Cells Active Layer

In this work, the enhancement of optical absorption in organic thin film active layer was investigated theoretically. The optical absorption results reveal that the introduction of periodic silver (Ag) nanoparticles (NPs) into the thin film active layer influences the absorption spectra. In this study, copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) as one of the organic solar cell materials has been used. Finite Different Time Domain technique has been used to demonstrate the role of the three different shapes of the silver nanoparticles (SNPs). It has been found that the NPs can result in broadband optical absorption enhancement in the wavelength range (350-550) nm due to the surface plasmonic resonance (SPR) phenomena. Moreover, the investigation has been performed the effect of the few shapes of (Cylinder with radius (R) 20 nm and height (H) 60 nm, radius (R) 30 nm for Sphere NPs, and Ellipse NPs with radius R1, R2 of 20 and 30 nm respectively) on the absorption in the organic thin films.

Plasmonic Solar Cells, a New Way to Enhance Energy Conversion Efficiency: Analysis and Modeling of Effect of Metal Geometry

Plasmonic Solar Cells, a New Way to Enhance Energy Conversion Efficiency: Analysis and Modeling of Effect of Metal Geometry

Effect of Surface Plasmon-Based Improvement in Optical Absorption in Plasmonic Solar Cell

In the last few years, plasmonics has attracted much attention and has been included in the principal domains of nanophotonics that can manage optical fields at the nanodimension level. Its exquisite characteristic is to increase the electromagnetic fields at the nanometer scale particularly in the solar cell. In the plasmonic discipline, noble metals used as nanoparticles in which the density of the electron gas which oscillates at surface plasmon frequency at that time also enhances absorption via scattering. So the usage of plasmonics in solar cells offers better possibility of improving the performance through absorption, because the optical spectrum loss is principal as a part of the overall loss for the solar photovoltaic cell. So we investigated the impact of the nanoparticle size for the enhancement of extinction in terms of absorption and scattering by using surface plasmon resonance, and additionally studied the finite-difference time domain (FDTD)-based proposed model and found various plasmonic fields components and characterized optical enhancement in the plasmonic thin film solar cell.

Plasmonic Solar Cells: From Rational Design to Mechanism Overview.

Plasmonic effects have been proposed as a solution to overcome the limited light absorption in thin-film photovoltaic devices, and various types of plasmonic solar cells have been developed. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art progress on the design and fabrication of plasmonic solar cells and their enhancement mechanism. The working principle is first addressed in terms of the combined effects of plasmon decay, scattering, near-field enhancement, and plasmonic energy transfer, including direct hot electron transfer and resonant energy transfer. Then, we summarize recent developments for various types of plasmonic solar cells based on silicon, dye-sensitized, organic photovoltaic, and other types of solar cells, including quantum dot and perovskite variants. We also address several issues regarding the limitations of plasmonic nanostructures, including their electrical, chemical, and physical stability, charge recombination, narrowband absorption, and high cost. Next, we propose a few potentially useful approaches that can improve the performance of plasmonic cells, such as the inclusion of graphene plasmonics, plasmon-upconversion coupling, and coupling between fluorescence resonance energy transfer and plasmon resonance energy transfer. This review is concluded with remarks on future prospects for plasmonic solar cell use.

Titanium Nitride Nanoparticles as Plasmonic Solar Heat Transducers

We demonstrate that lossy plasmonic resonances of nanoparticles are broad enough to cover the majority of the solar spectrum and highly efficient for absorbing sunlight. In analytical calculation, we choose a titanium nitride nanoparticle as a lossy plasmonic nanoresonator and present that sunlight absorption efficiency of a titanium nitride nanoparticle is higher than gold and even black carbon nanoparticles. The experiments demonstrate that titanium nitride nanoparticles dispersed in water have high efficiency to heat water and generate vapor than carbon nanoparticles by converting sunlight into heat. Our results open great possibilities for efficient solar heat applications with titanium nitride nanoparticles.

Plasmonic Solar Fuels Based on Nanostructured Oxide Photocatalysts

Solar energy can be directly converted to electrical energy via photovoltaic devices. Photocatalysis provides an alternative route to the conversion of solar energy that can be stored in chemical fuels through photoelectrochemical cells or particulate photocatalytic systems. While a number of strategies were developed to overcome the deficiencies of existing semiconductors, incorporation of plasmonic nanostructures with semiconductors has gained increasing attention as a promising paradigm to improve the solar energy conversion efficiency. In this presentation, we introduce diverse approaches for the fabrication of nanostructured semiconductors integrated with plasmonic structures that can be exploited to exhibit enhanced photo-conversion efficiencies.First, a surface plasmon (SP) induced visible light active photocatalyst system composed of silica-titania core-shell (SiO2@TiO2) nanostructures decorated with Au nanoparticles (Au NPs) was developed. The influence of size and distribution of Au NPs on photocatalysis, its fabrication methods and exploration of the mechanism of visible light activity were investigated. A favorable architecture of SiO2 beads with a thin layer of TiO2 was decorated with Au NP arrays having different size and areal density. Surface modification of SiO2@TiO2 leads to a viable and homogenous loading of Au NPs on the surface of TiO2, which renders visible light-induced photocatalytic activity on the whole TiO2 surface. An optimized system employing Au NP arrays with 15 nm size and 700/µm2 density showed best catalytic efficiency, due to a synergistic effect of the firm contact between Au NPs and TiO2 and efficiently coupled SPR excitation. A brief mechanism relating the electron transfer from surface plasmon stimulated Au NPs to the conduction band of TiO2 is proposed. The same system was further tailor-modified to exhibit far-field scattering effect, to lead to maximized performance toward solar water splitting.Next, we focus on our design principle for the plasmon-enhanced oxide-based photocatalytic systems based on inverse opal structures and demonstrate the SP coupling effect on the efficiency of water splitting. Inverse opals of representative semiconductor oxide photocatalysts were fabricated by well-known colloid templating, and the surface was decorated with Au NPs. The effect of size and areal density of Au NP arrays were explored in terms of oxidation reactions and plasmon-enhancement effect was supported by FDTD analysis. An advance strategy to improve the efficiency of solar fuel generation includes the combined block-copolymer-based self-assembly, leading to hierarchically organized inverse opals with tailored surface area and nano-textured surface morphology. Further, we show that carbon-doped analogue inverse opal structures could be readily obtained by direct carbonization of block copolymer templates, based on which simultaneous carbon-doping and plasmon-enhancement effect are synergistically realized.

Invited Presentation: Tailoring the Morphology of Au Nanoparticles on SrTiO3 for Plasmonic Solar Water Splitting

not Available.

Enhanced Electron Photoemission by Collective Lattice Resonances in Plasmonic Nanoparticle-Array Photodetectors and Solar Cells

We propose to use collective lattice resonances in plasmonic nanoparticle arrays to enhance and tailor photoelectron emission in Schottky barrier photodetectors and solar cells. We show that the interaction between narrow-band lattice resonances (the Rayleigh anomaly) and broader-band individual-particle excitations (localized surface plasmon resonances) leads to stronger local field enhancement. In turn, this causes a significant increase of the photocurrent compared to the case when only individual-particle excitations are present. The results can be used to design new photodetectors with highly selective, tunable spectral response, which are able to detect photons with the energy below the semiconductor bandgap. The findings can also be used to develop solar cells with increased efficiency.

Absorption Enhancements in Plasmonic Solar Cells Coated with Metallic Nanoparticles

We find that three mechanisms lead to the absorption enhancements of light in a thin-film amorphous silicon solar cell coated with a periodic array of silver nanoparticles on the rear surface according to our simulation. They are localized surface plasmon modes of the silver nanoparticles, Fabry–Perot resonant cavity modes and waveguide effects. Each enhancing mechanism can yield a maximum absorption enhancement of over two times at the corresponding resonant wavelengths when the nanoparticles cover 20 % of the solar cell surface, and an average absorption enhancement of up to 57 % can be achieved in the AM 1.5 G solar spectrum. The absorption enhancements can also be tuned in spectrum to optimize the total absorption in a plasmonic solar cell.

Nanoparticles and Efficiency Enhancement in Plasmonic Solar Cells

Nanoparticles and Efficiency Enhancement in Plasmonic Solar Cells

Plasmonic Solar Cells with Embedded Silver Nanoparticles from Vapor Condensation

ABSTRACTThe use of plasmonic nanoparticles as light scattering elements for light trapping in solar cells is studied. From theoretical considerations it follows that Ag particles with a diameter on the order of 100 nm possess ideal light scattering properties. It is demonstrated that these particles can be fabricated using the selective aerosol deposition technique. Because this newly developed technique provides excellent control over critical parameters such as particle size and surface coverage it is a valuable tool for optimizing plasmonic solar cells. The initial experiments show that embedding Ag particles with a diameter of 180 nm into amorphous silicon solar cells enhances the current output.

Absorption Enhancement in Plasmonic Solar Cells by Incorporation of Periodic Nanopatterns

ABSTRACTCurrently, the performances of thin film solar cells are limited by poor light absorption and carrier collection. In this research, large, broadband, and polarization-insensitive light absorption enhancement was realized via incorporation of different periodic nanopetterns. By studying the enhancement effect brought by different materials, dimensions, coverage, and dielectric environments of the metal nanopatterns, we analyzed the absorption enhancement mechanisms as well as optimization criteria for our designs. A test for totaling the absorption over the solar spectrum shows an up to ∼30% broadband absorption enhancement when comparing to conventional thin film cells.

Large Integrated Absorption Enhancement in Plasmonic Solar Cells by Combining Metallic Gratings and Antireflection Coatings

We describe an ultrathin solar cell architecture that combines the benefits of both plasmonic photovoltaics and traditional antireflection coatings. Spatially resolved electron generation rates are used to determine the total integrated current improvement under AM1.5G solar illumination, which can reach a factor of 1.8. The frequency-dependent absorption is found to strongly correlate with the occupation of optical modes within the structure, and the improved absorption is mainly attributed to improved coupling to guided modes rather than localized resonant modes.

Wave‐Like Energy Resonance Transfer of Plasmonic Absorption Gap in Plasmon‐Sensitized Solar Cell, Plasmonic Solar Cells, and Plasmonic Photovoltaics

AbstractOscillators in classical electromagnetic refer to electrons transition between energy band gaps in visible light in quantum mechanism. In experimental section, Fermi‐level of bulk‐like gold NPs contacts that of semiconductor due to the balance of the electronic density on the surface. Energy level, E, referred by the expectation value of the SPR dipole is below the work function of gold NP. The different energy between E and work function is Eg. In theory, SPR of gold NP acts as an energy level to transfer energy via wave‐like oscillator. Photoelectrons inject into the surrounding semiconductor and are difficult to come back due to the Schottky barrier. Furthermore, photoelectric current of dye/Au NPs/P‐25 TiO2 on the ITO glass substrate indicates that optical current is about −0.5 μA, which results from the higher level of the surface plasmon of Au NPs than that of N3 dye and TiO2.