Jia Zhu

Self-assembly of highly efficient, broadband plasmonic absorbers for solar steam generation

A self-assembling plasmonic absorber absorbs light efficiently across a wide range of wavelengths and could be used in nanophotonic devices. The study of ideal absorbers, which can efficiently absorb light over a broad range of wavelengths, is of fundamental importance, as well as critical for many applications from solar steam generation and thermophotovoltaics to light/thermal detectors. As a result of recent advances in plasmonics, plasmonic absorbers have attracted a lot of attention. However, the performance and scalability of these absorbers, predominantly fabricated by the top-down approach, need to be further improved to enable widespread applications. We report a plasmonic absorber which can enable an average measured absorbance of ~99% across the wavelengths from 400 nm to 10 μm, the most efficient and broadband plasmonic absorber reported to date. The absorber is fabricated through self-assembly of metallic nanoparticles onto a nanoporous template by a one-step deposition process. Because of its efficient light absorption, strong field enhancement, and porous structures, which together enable not only efficient solar absorption but also significant local heating and continuous stream flow, plasmonic absorber–based solar steam generation has over 90% efficiency under solar irradiation of only 4-sun intensity (4 kW m−2). The pronounced light absorption effect coupled with the high-throughput self-assembly process could lead toward large-scale manufacturing of other nanophotonic structures and devices.

Graphene oxide-based efficient and scalable solar desalination under one sun with a confined 2D water path

Significance Direct solar desalination, which produces desalinated water directly using solar energy with minimum carbon footprint, is considered a promising technology to address the global water scarcity. Here, we report a solar desalination device, with efficient two-dimensional water supply and suppressed thermal loss, which can enable an efficient (80% under one-sun illumination) and effective (four orders salinity decrement) solar desalination. The energy transfer efficiency of this foldable graphene oxide film-based device fabricated by a scalable process is independent of water quantity and can be achieved without optical or thermal supporting systems, therefore significantly improving the scalability and feasibility of this technology toward a complementary portable and personalized water solution. Because it is able to produce desalinated water directly using solar energy with minimum carbon footprint, solar steam generation and desalination is considered one of the most important technologies to address the increasingly pressing global water scarcity. Despite tremendous progress in the past few years, efficient solar steam generation and desalination can only be achieved for rather limited water quantity with the assistance of concentrators and thermal insulation, not feasible for large-scale applications. The fundamental paradox is that the conventional design of direct absorber−bulk water contact ensures efficient energy transfer and water supply but also has intrinsic thermal loss through bulk water. Here, enabled by a confined 2D water path, we report an efficient (80% under one-sun illumination) and effective (four orders salinity decrement) solar desalination device. More strikingly, because of minimized heat loss, high efficiency of solar desalination is independent of the water quantity and can be maintained without thermal insulation of the container. A foldable graphene oxide film, fabricated by a scalable process, serves as efficient solar absorbers (>94%), vapor channels, and thermal insulators. With unique structure designs fabricated by scalable processes and high and stable efficiency achieved under normal solar illumination independent of water quantity without any supporting systems, our device represents a concrete step for solar desalination to emerge as a complementary portable and personalized clean water solution.

Poly(dimethylsiloxane) Thin Film as a Stable Interfacial Layer for High-Performance Lithium-Metal Battery Anodes

A modified poly(dimethylsiloxane) film with nanopores, fabricated through a scalable and low-cost process, can serve as a protective layer for improving lithium-metal anodes. This film can suppress Li-dendrite formation because of its chemical inertness and mechanical properties. Stable cycling over 200 cycles with an averaged CE of 94.5% is demonstrated at 0.5 mA cm-2 .

Direct Conversion of Perovskite Thin Films into Nanowires with Kinetic Control for Flexible Optoelectronic Devices

With significant progress in the past decade, semiconductor nanowires have demonstrated unique features compared to their thin film counterparts, such as enhanced light absorption, mechanical integrity and reduced therma conductivity, etc. However, technologies of semiconductor thin film still serve as foundations of several major industries, such as electronics, displays, energy, etc. A direct path to convert thin film to nanowires can build a bridge between these two and therefore facilitate the large-scale applications of nanowires. Here, we demonstrate that methylammonium lead iodide (CH3NH3PbI3) nanowires can be synthesized directly from perovskite film by a scalable conversion process. In addition, with fine kinetic control, morphologies, and diameters of these nanowires can be well-controlled. Based on these perovskite nanowires with excellent optical trapping and mechanical properties, flexible photodetectors with good sensitivity are demonstrated.

Highly Flexible Self-Powered Organolead Trihalide Perovskite Photodetectors with Gold Nanowire Networks as Transparent Electrodes

Organolead trihalide perovskites (OTPs) such as CH3NH3PbI3 (MAPbI3) have attracted much attention as the absorbing layer in solar cells and photodetectors (PDs). Flexible OTP devices have also been developed. Transparent electrodes (TEs) with higher conductivity, stability, and flexibility are necessary to improve the performance and flexibility of flexible OTP devices. In this work, patterned Au nanowire (AuNW) networks with high conductivity and stability are prepared and used as TEs in self-powered flexible MAPbI3 PDs. These flexible PDs show peak external quantum efficiency and responsivity of 60% and 321 mA/W, which are comparable to those of MAPbI3 PDs based on ITO TEs. The linear dynamic range and response time of the AuNW-based flexible PDs reach ∼84 dB and ∼4 μs, respectively. Moreover, they show higher flexibility than ITO-based devices, around 90%, and 60% of the initial photocurrent can be retained for the AuNW-based flexible PDs when bent to radii of 2.5 and 1.5 mm. This work suggests a high-performance, highly flexible, and stable TE for OTP flexible devices.

Fine-tuning the metallic core-shell nanostructures for plasmonic perovskite solar cells

Plasmonic nanostructures have been widely applied in various types of solar cells for improving light absorption and therefore energy conversion efficiency. In this work, we demonstrate that Au@SiO2 core-shell nanorods with finely tuned aspect ratios are highly beneficial for the CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite solar cell, with the simultaneous enhancement of solar absorption and external quantum efficiency across a broad range of wavelength, which can contribute to the increased cross-sectional scattering and spectrally absorbing energy density. Therefore, a 16.1% improvement (from 12.4% to 14.4%) of the maximal external quantum efficiency can be achieved by such structures, accompanied with a 13.5% improvement (from 20.0 to 22.7u2009mA/cm2) of the maximal short-circuit current density and little improvement of the open-circuit voltage and fill factor. Our findings also provide a general guideline to design solar cell structures with thinner absorber layers and improve the absorption in other poorly light-absorbing de...

Anodic aluminum oxide with fine pore size control for selective and effective particulate matter filtering

Air pollution is widely considered as one of the most pressing environmental health issues. Particularly, atmospheric particulate matters (PM), a complex mixture of solid or liquid matter suspended in the atmosphere, are a harmful form of air pollution due to its ability to penetrate deep into the lungs and blood streams, causing permanent damages such as DNA mutations and premature death. Therefore, porous materials which can effectively filter out particulate matters are highly desirable. Here, for the first time, we demonstrate that anodic aluminum oxide with fine pore size control fabricated through a scalable process can serve as effective and selective filtering materials for different types of particulate matters (such as PM2.5, PM10). Combining selective and dramatic filtering effect, fine pore size control and a scalable process, this type of anodic aluminum oxide templates can potentially serve as a novel selective filter for different kinds of particulate matters, and a promising and complementary solution to tackle this serious environmental issue.