Modeling and Fabricating Nanotoroid Antenna Pairs to Plasmon-Enhance Solar Photovoltaics

建模和制造纳米环形天线对以实现等离激元增强太阳能光伏发电

• 批准号: 1006927
• 负责人: Magda El-Shenawee
• 金额: $ 36万
• 依托单位: University of Arkansas
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-07-01 至 2014-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1006927&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Modeling; Fabricating; Nanotoroid; Antenna; Pairs

Modeling and fabricating nanotoroid antenna pairs to plasmon-enhance solar photovoltaicsThe objective of this research is to design and fabricate gold nanotoroid arrays in which coupled plasmon interactions enhance electromagnetic fields, to be measured by spectroscopy and electron microscopy. Radiative coupling between plasmons (oscillating free electrons confined to metal surfaces) on arrayed nanotoroids could improve light trapping in photovoltaics more than random nanoparticles or textured back contacts, which have not made solar power cost-competitive. Intellectual Merit. A novel solution will be developed that considers both near- and far-field interactions to identify nanotoroid radii and spacing that plasmon-enhance electromagnetic fields to maximize photovoltaic light trapping. Nanotoroid lattices fabricated by new methods and measures of far- and near-field enhancements by spectroscopy and electron microscopy will validate the solution. The PI and co-PI recently showed tunable resonances near semiconductor bandgaps, and extraordinary local fields in nanosphere arrays and in nanotoroid pairs, respectively. This motivates combining efforts to overcome three existing shortfalls: (1) low efficiency near photovoltaic bandgaps; (2) few models to design nanoarrays for photovoltaics; and (3) few direct measures of plasmon-enhanced fields coordinated with models.Broader Impacts. Two underrepresented graduate students will collaborate with researchers at Centers in Semiconductor Physics and Electronics in University of Arkansas, at Texas Instruments, Inc., and in France and Egypt to characterize these nanostructures. New cyberinfrastructure will transmit lab data to offices for real-time analysis. Ultimately, the PIs are working to self-assemble plasmonic nanostructures to transform applications in health, optoelectronics, and sensing, as well as solar energy.

本研究的目的是设计和制造金纳米环形阵列，其中耦合等离子体相互作用增强电磁场，并通过光谱学和电子显微镜进行测量。阵列纳米环上等离子体（局限于金属表面的振荡自由电子）之间的辐射耦合比随机纳米颗粒或纹理背触点更能改善光伏电池中的光捕获，而后者并没有使太阳能发电在成本上具有竞争力。知识价值。将开发一种新颖的解决方案，考虑近场和远场相互作用，以确定纳米环形半径和间距，等离子体增强电磁场以最大化光伏光捕获。采用新方法制备的纳米环晶格以及光谱和电子显微镜的远场和近场增强措施将验证该解决方案。PI和co-PI最近分别在半导体带隙附近显示出可调谐的共振，并在纳米球阵列和纳米环面对中显示出非凡的局部场。这促使人们共同努力克服三个现有的不足：(1)光伏带隙附近的低效率；(2)光伏纳米阵列设计模型较少；(3)与模型相协调的等离子体增强场的直接测量很少。更广泛的影响。两名未被充分代表的研究生将与阿肯色大学半导体物理和电子中心、德州仪器公司、法国和埃及的研究人员合作，对这些纳米结构进行表征。新的网络基础设施将把实验室数据传输到办公室进行实时分析。最终，pi正致力于自组装等离子体纳米结构，以改变医疗、光电子、传感以及太阳能等领域的应用。