Solid State Dye Sensitized Solar Cells Using Tunable Surface Plasmons of Core-Shell Particles

题目：利用核壳粒子可调谐表面等离子体的固态染料敏化太阳能电池为了显著提高太阳能电池的能量转换效率，需要对光吸收机制有一个基本的了解，特别是与固体染料敏化太阳能电池（sdssc）有关。利用共振现象，如表面等离子体，是控制光吸收的一种很有前途的方法。本研究的目的是：(1)对表面等离子体、太阳光调制和载流子/激子产生之间的物理相互作用有一个基本的了解；(2)设计新型等离子体粒子（即金属纳米壳），增强sdssc的光吸收能力。金属纳米壳避免了金属纳米粒子固有的等离子体频率固定、制造复杂、长期老化和载流子转移等问题。新获得的关于金属纳米壳增强光电子转换的知识将使我们能够充分利用等离子体sdssc的潜力。本文的研究扩展了我们在等离子体纳米结构和太阳辐射收集方面的现有知识，有可能为混合太阳能电池提供新的方向。这项工作将产生关于等离子体纳米结构的知识，并促进一类新的光伏，其中太阳辐射吸收和载流子生成显着改善。预计该研究的发展将有助于进一步实现美国的能源安全目标。鉴于太阳能产生的电力占美国年总用电量的1%以上，本研究的预期结果将有助于通过探索表面等离子体增强光吸收和载流子产生来提高能量转换效率。预期的研究成果将纳入本科和研究生课程，如？能源生产和储存材料？以及其他活动。

PI: Lee, Jung-KunProposal Number: 1235979Institution: University of PittsburghTitle: Solid State Dye Sensitized Solar Cells Using Tunable Surface Plasmons of Core-Shell ParticlesIn order to significantly improve the energy conversion efficiency of solar cells, a fundamental understanding is needed on how the light absorption mechanism, specifically related to solid dye sensitized solar cells (SDSSCs). One of a promising ways to control the light absorption is to exploit the resonance phenomenon, such as surface plasmons. The objectives of this research are 1) to develop a fundamental understanding the physical interactions among surface plasmons, solar light modulation, and carrier/exciton generation, and 2) to design the novel plasmonic particles (i.e. metal nanoshell) that enhance light absorption capacity of SDSSCs. The metal nanoshells will avoid inherent problems of the metal nanoparticles such as fixed plasmonic frequency, fabrication complexity, long-term aging and carrier transfer. Newly obtained knowledge on enhanced photon-electron conversion by metal nanoshells will enable us to exploit the full potential of plasmonic SDSSCs. The proposed research holds the potential to provide new directions for the hybrid solar cells by extending our current knowledge on the plasmonic nanostructures and the solar radiation harvesting. This work will generate knowledge on the plasmonic nanostructures and facilitate a new class of photovoltaic where the solar radiation absorption and the carrier generation are significantly improved. It is expected that the development of the proposed research will contribute to furthering the goal of energy security of the US. Given that the electricity produced from solar energy is more than 1% of the total annual electricity consumed in the US, the expected results of this research will contribute to increasing energy conversion efficiency by exploring surface plasmon enhanced light absorption and carrier generation. The anticipated research results will be integrated into undergraduate and graduate courses such as ?Materials for Energy Generation and Storage? and other activities.