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

本研究的目的是设计和制造金纳米环形天线阵列，其中耦合等离子体相互作用增强电磁场，通过光谱学和电子显微镜测量。 阵列纳米环上的等离子体激元（振荡自由电子限制在金属表面）之间的辐射耦合可以比随机纳米颗粒或纹理背接触更好地改善光致发光器件中的光捕获，这使得太阳能发电没有成本竞争力。 智力优势。 将开发一种新的解决方案，考虑近场和远场相互作用，以确定等离子体增强电磁场的纳米环半径和间距，以最大限度地提高光伏光捕获。 通过光谱学和电子显微镜的远场和近场增强的新方法和措施制造的纳米环形晶格将验证解决方案。 PI和合作PI最近显示出可调共振附近的半导体带隙，和非凡的本地领域的纳米球阵列和纳米环对，分别。 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）设计用于光致发光的纳米阵列的模型很少;（3）与模型协调的等离子体增强场的直接测量很少。两名代表性不足的研究生将与德克萨斯仪器公司阿肯色州大学半导体物理和电子中心的研究人员合作，在法国和埃及，他们对这些纳米结构进行了表征。 新的网络基础设施将实验室数据传输到办公室进行实时分析。 最终，PI正在努力自组装等离子体纳米结构，以改变健康，光电子和传感以及太阳能的应用。

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.