SOLAR Collaborative: Multiplasmonic Light Harvesting for Thin Film Solar Cells

SOLAR Collaborative：薄膜太阳能电池的多等离子体光收集

• 批准号: 1125591
• 负责人: Thomas Mallouk
• 金额: $ 105万
• 依托单位: Pennsylvania State Univ University Park
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-09-01 至 2015-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1125591&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SOLAR; Collaborative; Multiplasmonic; Light; Harvesting

This project is co-funded by the Divisions of Materials Research, Chemistry, and Mathematical Sciences.Technical: A team of chemists, materials scientists, and engineers at Pennsylvania State University is joined by a mathematician at the University of Delaware to investigate light-harvesting thin films for solar cells that contain plasmonic nanostructures coupled to periodic dielectrics. The project links the concepts of strong light scattering by sub-wavelength metallic structures with the light-trapping and light-guiding properties of photonic crystals. These structures are called multiplasmonic because they support the propagation of multiple surface plasmon-polariton (SPP) modes and can utilize both s- and p-polarized incident light. They offer promise for substantially increasing the utilization of light in thin film photovoltaic cells. This concept is explored computationally and experimentally in thin film semiconductor and planar dielectric light-concentrating architectures. The Rigorous Coupled Wave Approach is used to simulate and optimize light scattering and propagation. Because these calculations are time-intensive, mathematical research is planned to develop more efficient algorithms that will incorporate the optical properties needed to provide physically meaningful solutions. A fully 3-D time domain simulation tool will then be developed to enable broadband modeling of the multiplasmonic structures. In concert with the computational effort, the multiplasmonic concept is tested and validated in several experimental architectures. The simplest of these is a conventional SPP scattering layer, consisting of a metal backing film with a grid of scattering centers on a thin film multi-junction cell containing layers of polycrystalline or amorphous semiconductors. This structure allows the computational model to be validated in a photovoltaic cell and is expected to quantify polarization and multi-mode effects. Planar concentrator architectures containing periodic oxide or polymer dielectric layers with heterogeneously integrated silicon microcells are studied as photovoltaic modules. These designs are extended to a spectrum-splitting module that combines dye-sensitized solar cells and multiplasmonic silicon cells. New optical nanostructures and new patterning techniques are developed in order to fabricate these modules.Non-technical: The large-scale implementation of solar photovoltaic power, a renewable resource that has the potential to dramatically impact the global energy economy, is limited by cost. The goal of this project is to explore a new principle for light trapping in solar cells. This approach could enable the design of solar cells that contain five times less silicon than conventional cells, while delivering the same amount of power. The concept is to couple two kinds of optical nanostructures: (1) very small metal particles, which are well known to scatter light strongly, and (2) patterned insulators that diffract light - the same phenomenon that gives rise to the colors of opals and butterfly wings. Theory predicts and preliminary experiments confirm that thin films of these combined structures are particularly good at light trapping. The challenge is to investigate the properties of different combinations, for which more efficient mathematical tools as well as fabrication methods must be developed, and to demonstrate that they can be integrated into solar cells in a manufacturable way. This project, with its multidisciplinary nature, engage graduate students in research that bridges topics in nanomaterials synthesis and patterning, solar cell module design, optical and electrical measurements, modeling, and mathematical algorithm development. Undergraduate honors students are also involved in this project at both Penn State and Delaware.

该项目由材料研究、化学和数学科学部门共同资助。技术：宾夕法尼亚州立大学的化学家、材料科学家和工程师团队与特拉华大学的数学家一起研究太阳能电池的光收集薄膜，该薄膜包含与周期性电介质耦合的等离子体纳米结构。该项目将亚波长金属结构的强光散射概念与光子晶体的光捕获和光导特性联系起来。这些结构被称为多等离子体，因为它们支持多种表面等离子体偏振 (SPP) 模式的传播，并且可以利用 s 偏振和 p 偏振入射光。它们有望大幅提高薄膜光伏电池的光利用率。在薄膜半导体和平面电介质聚光架构中通过计算和实验探索了这一概念。严格耦合波方法用于模拟和优化光散射和传播。由于这些计算非常耗时，因此数学研究计划开发更有效的算法，该算法将结合提供物理上有意义的解决方案所需的光学特性。然后将开发一个完全 3D 时域仿真工具，以实现多等离子体结构的宽带建模。与计算工作相配合，多等离子体概念在多个实验架构中进行了测试和验证。其中最简单的是传统的 SPP 散射层，由金属背衬膜组成，该金属背衬膜在包含多晶或非晶半导体层的薄膜多结电池上具有散射中心网格。这种结构允许在光伏电池中验证计算模型，并有望量化偏振和多模效应。包含周期性氧化物或聚合物介电层和异质集成硅微电池的平面聚光器架构作为光伏模块进行了研究。这些设计扩展到结合染料敏化太阳能电池和多等离子体硅电池的光谱分离模块。为了制造这些模块，开发了新的光学纳米结构和新的图案化技术。非技术性：太阳能光伏发电是一种可再生资源，有可能极大地影响全球能源经济，其大规模实施受到成本的限制。该项目的目标是探索太阳能电池中光捕获的新原理。这种方法可以设计出比传统电池少五倍硅含量的太阳能电池，同时提供相同的电量。这个概念是将两种光学纳米结构结合起来：（1）非常小的金属颗粒，众所周知，它们会强烈散射光；（2）衍射光的图案化绝缘体——这种现象与蛋白石和蝴蝶翅膀的颜色相同。理论预测和初步实验证实，这些组合结构的薄膜特别擅长光捕获。面临的挑战是研究不同组合的特性，为此必须开发更有效的数学工具和制造方法，并证明它们可以以可制造的方式集成到太阳能电池中。该项目具有多学科性质，让研究生参与连接纳米材料合成和图案化、太阳能电池模块设计、光学和电气测量、建模和数学算法开发等主题的研究。宾夕法尼亚州立大学和特拉华大学的本科荣誉学生也参与了这个项目。