Local field enhancement near spherical nanoparticles in absorbing media

It is shown by numerical simulation that the enhancement of the field near metallic nanoparticles is most significant in the transparency region of the matrix material and falls off as the absorption coefficient rises. In an absorbing matrix medium this leads both to an increase in the fraction of energy absorbed by the matrix material and to a substantial transformation in its spectral distribution. This is illustrated for the case of copper phthalocyanine with silver nanoparticles. By choosing the size of the introduced plasmon nanoparticles it is possible to enhance the absorption in the visible for the materials used in solar cells and thereby increase their energy efficiency.     

金属纳米颗粒对有机太阳能电池光吸收效率影响的研究

借助时域有限差分法,对几种常见金属纳米颗粒影响有机太阳能电池光吸收效率的因素及其内部物理机制进行了研究.首先对金属纳米颗粒激发局域表面等离子共振的场分布特点进行分析,对比其在电池不同功能层中对光吸收率的影响;其次基于米氏理论与电共振效应,得出金属纳米颗粒的结构参量对局域表面等离子共振位置及强度的影响规律,并以此进行优化设计.结果表明,具有高对称性形貌的金属纳米颗粒以小尺寸密堆积结构引入电池活性层,能够促进电池光吸收增强三倍以上.     

金属纳米颗粒对有机太阳能电池光吸收效率影响的研究

借助时域有限差分法,对几种常见金属纳米颗粒影响有机太阳能电池光吸收效率的因素及其内部物理机制进行了研究.首先对金属纳米颗粒激发局域表面等离子共振的场分布特点进行分析,对比其在电池不同功能层中对光吸收率的影响;其次基于米氏理论与电共振效应,得出金属纳米颗粒的结构参量对局域表面等离子共振位置及强度的影响规律,并以此进行优化设计.结果表明,具有高对称性形貌的金属纳米颗粒以小尺寸密堆积结构引入电池活性层,能够促进电池光吸收增强三倍以上.     

Enhanced optical absorption by Ag nanoparticles in a thin film Si solar cell

Thin film solar cells have the potential to significantly reduce the cost of photovoltaics. Light trapping is crucial to such a thin film silicon solar cell because of a low absorption coefficient due to its indirect band gap. In this paper, we investigate the suitability of surface plasmon resonance Ag nanoparticles for enhancing optical absorption in the thin film solar cell. For evaluating the transmittance capability of Ag nanoparticles and the conventional antireflection film, an enhanced transmittance factor is introduced. We find that under the solar spectrum AM1.5, the transmittance of Ag nanoparticles with radius over 160 nm is equivalent to that of conventional textured antireflection film, and its effect is better than that of the planar antireflection film. The influence of the surrounding medium is also discussed.     

Photovoltaic characteristics of hybrid MEH-PPV-nanoparticles compound

Organic solar cell research has vastly developed in recent years. These organic solar cells however are still limited to low power conversion efficiencies. This has led to the generation of photovoltaic cells based on hybrid nanoparticle-organic polymer materials. The hybrid solar cell has the potential of bridging the efficiency gap which is present in organic and inorganic semiconductor materials. This paper focuses on characterization of fabricated hybrid active layer consisting of organic polymer infused with semiconductor nanoparticles. The active layer was deposited on the substrate using the spin coating technique. Materials used in the active layer are poly (2-methoxy, 5-(2-ethyl hexyloxy) p-phenyl vinylene) MEH-PPV, cadmium telluride (CdTe) and cadmium sulphide (CdS). The fabricated solar cells with active layer of MEH-PPV only were found to have a power conversion efficiency of 0.1% for 1 W, hybrid cell with active layer of MEH-PPV/CdTe has power conversion efficiency of 0.15% for 1 W and hybrid cell with active layer of MEH-PPV/CdTe/CdS has power conversion efficiency of 0.18% for 1 W.     

Nonlocal effects in the optical response of composite materials with metallic nanoparticles

A phenomenological model for the optical response of composite materials with metallic nanoparticles is presented. This model applies the conventional effective medium theories (EMT) but takes into account the spatial dispersion effects in the dielectric response of the metallic nanoparticles. This leads to an EMT that depends on the size of the particles. Numerical results from a model computation shows that this effect due to the nonlocal optical response of the nanoparticles can increase the resonant absorption frequency of the composite significantly for particles of very small sizes; and can lead to resonant absorption even in the Bruggeman symmetric EMT—a feature which is believed to be absent in the conventional treatment where local response for the metal particles has been assumed.     

Plasmonic fractals: ultrabroadband light trapping in thin film solar cells by a Sierpinski nanocarpet

Plasmonic Sierpinski nanocarpet as back structure for a thin film Si solar cell is investigated. We demonstrate that ultra-broadband light trapping can be obtained by placing square metallic nanoridges with Sierpinski pattern on the back contact of the thin film solar cell. The multiple-scale plasmonic fractal structure allows excitation of localized surface plasmons and surface plasmon polaritons in multiple wavelengths leading to obvious absorption enhancements in a wide frequency range. Full wave simulations show that 109 % increase of the short-circuit current density for a 200 nm thick solar cell, is achievable by the proposed fractal back structure. The amount of light absorbed in the active region of this cell is more than that of a flat cell with semiconductor thickness of 1,000 nm.     

Plasmon enhanced light trapping in thin film GaAs solar cells by Al nanoparticle array

Light trapping is a crucial factor to enhance the performance of thin film solar cells. For effective light trapping, we introduced Al nanoparticle array on the top and rear surface of thin film GaAs solar cells. The effect of both array on the optical absorption and current density of solar cells is investigated by using finite difference time domain (FDTD) method. The optimization process of top and rear array in solar cells is done systematically. The results indicate that by plasmonic action of arrays, the optical absorption is significantly enhanced and optimized structure yields a current density of 25.77 mA/cm². These enhancements are mainly attributed to surface plasmon effects induced by Al nanoparticles and the light grating properties of the arrays.     

Improving the efficiency of thin film tandem solar cells by plasmonic intermediate reflectors

Thin film tandem solar cells made of amorphous and microcrystalline silicon provide renewable energy at the benefit of low material consumption. As a drawback, these materials do not posses the high carrier mobilities of their crystalline counterpart which limits the feasible material thickness. For maintaining the light absorption as high as possible, photon management is required. Here we show that metallic nanodiscs that sustain localized plasmon polaritons can increase the efficiency of such solar cells if they are incorporated into the dielectric intermediate reflector separating the top and the bottom cell. We provide quantitative estimates for the possible absorption enhancement of optimized bi-periodic nanodiscs that are feasible for fabrication. Emphasis is also put on discussing the impact of obliquely incident sun light on the solar cell performance.     

Enhanced light absorption in thin-film tandem solar cells using a bottom metallic nanograting

We introduced a metallic nanograting at the bottom of thin-film tandem solar cells, and carried out an investigation into the light absorption in the top and bottom cells via the electromagnetic simulation. It indicates that broadband and polarization-insensitive light absorption enhancement can be obtained in the bottom cell, while the light absorption in the top cell remains unchanged by the influence of the added metallic nanograting. An overall carrier generation enhancement reaches as much as 60 % for both incident polarizations. This absorption enhancement can survive in a wide range of the cell thickness and the nanograting geometries, which enables us to reduce the thickness of the bottom cell with minimal impact on the light absorption. Thereby, this design could reduce the solar cell production cost, and meanwhile could enhance the solar cell efficiency by decreasing the light-generated carrier recombination rate.     

电极对CuPc/C60双层异质结有机太阳能电池光学性能的影响

采用传输矩阵法的光学模型以及MATLAB软件模拟了电极对CuPc/C₆₀双层异质结有机太阳能电池光学性能的影响。模拟结果表明:当把微腔结构引入到双层异质结电池时,对于入射电极,发现活性层的吸光率主要受其反射相移的影响而非其透射率,并且通过变化入射电极相移调节层到合适厚度可以使活性层吸光率相比于传统器件增加很多;而当把正负折射率交替的光子晶体引入到电池中作为背电极时,发现活性层的吸光率和背电极反射率、反射相移都有很大关系,在获得高反射率的同时可以通过调节背电极厚度从而使活性层在整个吸收光谱内的吸光率大于传统器件。     

Effect of quantization of the electron spectrum of small metallic particles on optical absorption in composite materials

Optical properties of a system of metallic nanoparticles in a dielectric matrix are studied. An analytic form of the dielectric function for a metallic particle having the shape of a parallelepiped is used to estimate quantum effects. The absorption coefficient in composite materials containing particles of various metals in various matrices is calculated, and a comparison with available experimental data is performed.     

Dielectric layer-dependent surface plasmon effect of metallic nanoparticles on silicon substrate

The electromagnetic interaction between Ag nanoparticles on the top of the Si substrate and the incident light has been studied by numerical simulations. It is found that the presence of dielectric layers with different thicknesses leads to the varied resonance wavelength and scattering cross section and consequently the shifted photocurrent response for all wavelengths. These different behaviours are determined by whether the dielectric layer is beyond the domain where the elcetric field of metallic plasmons takes effect, combined with the effect of geometrical optics. It is revealed that for particles of a certain size, an appropriate dielectric thickness is desirable to achieve the best absorption. For a certain thickness of spacer, an appropriate granular size is also desirable. These observations have substantial applications for the optimization of surface plasmon enhanced silicon solar cells.     

基于等离激元多重杂化效应的光吸收结构

近年来,以聚合物为代表的高分子材料由于具有比其他光吸收材料(如半导体材料、碳基材料以及贵金属纳米材料)更好的柔性和粘弹性而受到广泛关注.本文基于等离子体再聚合技术和磁控溅射工艺在聚合物材料层上制备了具有等离激元多重杂化效应的光吸收结构,该结构具有宽谱高吸收特性.该结构的制备工艺简单易行,对不同聚合物材料具有通用性,在光学器件领域具有广泛的应用前景.     

Enhancing the linear absorption and tuning the nonlinearity of TiO2 nanowires through the incorporation of Ag nanoparticles

We report on the enhanced linear absorption and modified nonlinear absorption of TiO2 nanowires coated with Ag nanoparticles. Experimental results indicated that the coated Ag nanoparticles significantly increased the linear absorption of the nanostructures in the wavelength range of visible light. Z-scan experiments showed that when the excitation energy increased, the nonlinear absorption of the TiO2 nanowires changed from reverse-saturable absorption to saturable absorption. When Ag nanoparticles were coated on the TiO2 nanowires, the reverse-saturable absorption was significantly inhibited. The as-prepared nanostructures may find potential applications in the field of solar cells and all-optical switching.     

Study of efficiency enhancement in layered geometry of excitonic-plasmonic solar cell

The nano-plasmonic effect on the organic solar cell (OSC) considering different materials, thickness, configurations and geometry has been considered. A theoretical modelling based on exciton-plasmon coupling using first principle approach was done to see the effect of incident photon to current collection efficiency of OSC in the direction to achieve efficient light trapping. For the present numerical model, uniform sized silver Nanoparticle were considered to be embedded in the active layer poly-(4’-(1”, 4”, 7”-trioaoctyl) phenyl) thiophanyl (PEOPT) of OSC. The coupling of local electromagnetic field due to metallic nano-plasmonic antenna resulted in the enhanced overall performance of the OSC. Optimized efficiency calculations suggested that there is nearly 1.6 % of enhancement in the efficiency (IPCE) due to plasmonic coupling to excitonic cell.     

金属-介质-金属渔网超表面结构调控的荧光辐射：空间选择性激发和双增强

增强荧光辐射在生物成像、高灵敏探测、集成光源等方面都具有重要的应用价值.金属纳米颗粒的周围或者金属纳米结构的间隙都可以产生强的电磁场,相应的,这些结构附近的局域态密度也被极大地增强.虽然增强荧光辐射已经在多种金属纳米颗粒和颗粒对中被证明,但是利用金属纳米结构对荧光分子的吸收和辐射过程同时进行调制仍然是一个有挑战的问题.本文研究了金属-介质-金属超表面对荧光辐射的调控,其中局域表面等离激元(LSP)和磁等离激元(MPP)分別与于分子的吸收和辐射过程发中耦合相互作用.对于吸收过程,LSP的耦合作用使得可以通过旋转泵浦激光的偏振态来实现荧光分子的空间选择激发.此外,MPP模式的偏振依赖特性使得矩形渔网结构中的荧光分子的辐射波长和偏振态也受到调控.实验观测结果经过了时域有限差分模拟的验证.本文报道的纳米结构在光辐射器件和纳米尺度集成光源等方面都具有潜在的应用价值.     

静水压对立方钙钛矿CsSnX3(X=I, Br, Cl)光电性质的第一性原理探究

全无机无铅卤化物钙钛矿已经成为重要的新一代太阳能电池材料.采用密度泛函理论的第一性原理研究了不同静水压下CsSnX₃(X=I, Br, Cl)材料的晶体结构,电子结构和光学性能,并分析了其内在联系.结果表明施加静水压可使材料中Sn-X键长减小,使原子之间的耦合增强,带隙值减小,且随着卤族元素半径的增大,压力效应越明显;随着压力的增加,材料的吸收系数和复折射率增大,吸收光谱出现红移现象,在可见光区和近红外光区吸收增强.相比CsSnBr₃和CsSnCl₃,CsSnI₃在可见光区吸收最佳且受压力作用影响最小,更适用于钙钛矿太阳能电池材料.     

Absorption enhancement of thin film solar cells using back binary metallic grating

We reported in this work that light absorption can be significantly enhanced in an a-Si thin film solar cell with a nano binary metallic grating patterned on the bottom side. The enhancement is mainly due to combination of several kinds of optical modes. Cavity mode, at the transverse and longitudinal cavities and surface plasmon mode, propagating along the interface of silicon and silver are the main modes contributing to the enhancement. Some key parameters including grating period, width, height and active layer thickness are optimized. The integrated absorption rate of the optimized system reaches 76.55 % for the wavelength range from 300 to 950 nm under AM1.5G spectrum.     

纳米表面二维周期半圆凹槽增强硅薄膜太阳能电池光吸收

利用时域有限差分方法, 研究硅薄膜上下表面周期半圆凹槽结构对于太阳光吸收的增强效应. 研究发现这种结构可以实现太阳光宽波段的光吸收增强, 通过调节SiO₂表面减反层厚度和凹槽半径长度来实现薄膜太阳能电池最大的光吸收, 并实现了波长在300-1000 nm范围的太阳光吸收总能量比没有这种 结构下硅薄膜光吸收提高了约117%. 关键词： 硅薄膜 半圆凹槽 吸收增强