Roshni Biswas

Printable nanostructured silicon solar cells for high-performance, large-area flexible photovoltaics.

Nanostructured forms of crystalline silicon represent an attractive materials building block for photovoltaics due to their potential benefits to significantly reduce the consumption of active materials, relax the requirement of materials purity for high performance, and hence achieve greatly improved levelized cost of energy. Despite successful demonstrations for their concepts over the past decade, however, the practical application of nanostructured silicon solar cells for large-scale implementation has been hampered by many existing challenges associated with the consumption of the entire wafer or expensive source materials, difficulties to precisely control materials properties and doping characteristics, or restrictions on substrate materials and scalability. Here we present a highly integrable materials platform of nanostructured silicon solar cells that can overcome these limitations. Ultrathin silicon solar microcells integrated with engineered photonic nanostructures are fabricated directly from wafer-based source materials in configurations that can lower the materials cost and can be compatible with deterministic assembly procedures to allow programmable, large-scale distribution, unlimited choices of module substrates, as well as lightweight, mechanically compliant constructions. Systematic studies on optical and electrical properties, photovoltaic performance in experiments, as well as numerical modeling elucidate important design rules for nanoscale photon management with ultrathin, nanostructured silicon solar cells and their interconnected, mechanically flexible modules, where we demonstrate 12.4% solar-to-electric energy conversion efficiency for printed ultrathin (∼ 8 μm) nanostructured silicon solar cells when configured with near-optimal designs of rear-surface nanoposts, antireflection coating, and back-surface reflector.

The dynamics of giant unilamellar vesicle oxidation probed by morphological transitions.

We have studied the dynamics of Lissamine Rhodamine B dye sensitization-induced oxidation of 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DOPC) giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs), where the progression of the underlying chemical processes was followed via vesicle membrane area changes. The surface-area-to-volume ratio of our spherical GUVs increased after as little as ten seconds of irradiation. The membrane area expansion was coupled with high amplitude fluctuations not typical of GUVs in isoosmotic conditions. To accurately measure the area of deformed and fluctuating membranes, we utilized a dual-beam optical trap (DBOT) to stretch GUV membranes into a geometrically regular shape. Further oxidation led to vesicle contraction, and the GUVs became tense, with micron-scale pores forming in the bilayer. We analyzed the GUV morphological behaviors as two consecutive rate-limiting steps. We also considered the effects of altering DOPC and 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine-N-(lissamine rhodamine B sulfonyl) (RhDPPE) concentrations. The resulting kinetic model allows us to measure how lipid molecular area changes during oxidation, as well as to determine the rate constants controlling how quickly oxidation products are formed. Controlled membrane oxidation leading to permeabilization is also a potential tool for drug delivery based on engineered photosensitizer-containing lipid vesicles.

Optical stretching of giant unilamellar vesicles with an integrated dual-beam optical trap

We have integrated a dual-beam optical trap into a microfluidic platform and used it to study membrane mechanics in giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs). We demonstrate the trapping and stretching of GUVs and characterize the membrane response to a step stress. We then measure area strain as a function of applied stress to extract the bending modulus of the lipid bilayer in the low-tension regime.

High Performance Ultrathin GaAs Solar Cells Enabled with Heterogeneously Integrated Dielectric Periodic Nanostructures

Due to their favorable materials properties including direct bandgap and high electron mobilities, epitaxially grown III-V compound semiconductors such as gallium arsenide (GaAs) provide unmatched performance over silicon in solar energy harvesting. Nonetheless, their large-scale deployment in terrestrial photovoltaics remains challenging mainly due to the high cost of growing device quality epitaxial materials. In this regard, reducing the thickness of constituent active materials under appropriate light management schemes is a conceptually viable option to lower the cost of GaAs solar cells. Here, we present a type of high efficiency, ultrathin GaAs solar cell that incorporates bifacial photon management enabled by techniques of transfer printing to maximize the absorption and photovoltaic performance without compromising the optimized electronic configuration of planar devices. Nanoimprint lithography and dry etching of titanium dioxide (TiO2) deposited directly on the window layer of GaAs solar cells formed hexagonal arrays of nanoscale posts that serve as lossless photonic nanostructures for antireflection, diffraction, and light trapping in conjunction with a co-integrated rear-surface reflector. Systematic studies on optical and electrical properties and photovoltaic performance in experiments, as well as numerical modeling, quantitatively describe the optimal design rules for ultrathin, nanostructured GaAs solar cells and their integrated modules.

Optical stretching as a tool to investigate the mechanical properties of lipid bilayers

Measurements of lipid bilayer bending modulus by various techniques produce widely divergent results. We attempt to resolve some of this ambiguity by measuring bending modulus in a system that can rapidly process large numbers of samples, yielding population statistics. This system is based on optical stretching of giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) in a microfluidic dual-beam optical trap (DBOT). The microfluidic DBOT system is used here to measure three populations of GUVs with distinct lipid compositions. We find that gel-phase membranes are significantly stiffer than liquid-phase membranes, consistent with previous reports. We also find that the addition of cholesterol does not alter the bending modulus of membranes composed of a monounsaturated phospholipid.

High performance ultrathin GaAs solar cells

Epitaxially grown III-V compound semiconductors, such as gallium arsenide (GaAs), can provide superior photovoltaic (PV) performance due to many attractive material properties. However, the high cost of growing device-quality epitaxial materials has prevented their widespread adoption in terrestrial applications. In this regard, decreasing thicknesses of constituent epitaxial materials without compromising their photovoltaic performance is one of conceptually viable means to lower the cost. Here we present a type of thin film GaAs PV system with drastically reduced active layer thickness (~200 nm), where dielectric periodic nanostructures and a metallic reflective element are heterogeneously integrated on the front- and back-surfaces of solar cells for nanophotonic light management to enhance the absorption and photovoltaic performance of ultrathin GaAs solar cells.

Photonic surfaces for designable nonlinear power shaping

We propose a method for designing nonlinear input-output power response based on absorptive resonances of nanostructured surfaces. We show that various power transmission trends can be obtained by placing a photonic resonance mode at the appropriate detuning from the laser wavelength. We demonstrate our results in a silicon photonic crystal slab at a laser wavelength of 808 nm. We quantify the overall spectral red shift as a function of laser power. The shift results from absorptive heating and the thermo-optic effect. We then demonstrate devices with increasing, decreasing, and non-monotonic transmission as a function of laser power. The transmission changes are up to 7.5 times larger than in unpatterned silicon. The strong nonlinear transmission is due to a combination of resonantly enhanced absorption, reduced thermal conductivity, and the resonant transmission lineshape. Our results illustrate the possibility of designing different nonlinear power trends within a single materials platform at a given wavelength of interest.

On-chip manipulation of local heating and nanoparticle motion

We exploit the resonant enhancement of light in photonic crystal slabs to enhance selected optical properties. Enhancement of absorption and local field gradients result in applications to microscale heating and optical trapping, respectively.

Sequential and selective localized optical heating in water via on-chip dielectric nanopatterning

We study the use of nanopatterned silicon membranes to obtain optically-induced heating in water. We show that by varying the detuning between an absorptive optical resonance of the patterned membrane and an illumination laser, both the magnitude and response time of the temperature rise can be controlled. This allows for either sequential or selective heating of different patterned areas on chip. We obtain a steady-state temperature of approximately 100 °C for a 805.5nm CW laser power density of 66 µW/μm2 and observe microbubble formation. The ability to spatially and temporally control temperature on the microscale should enable the study of heat-induced effects in a variety of chemical and biological lab-on-chip applications.

Light-activated nanoheaters with programmable time-dependent response(Conference Presentation)

We design nanopatterned, all-dielectric structures that heat up suddenly when illuminated by a laser. The delay time for heating can be programmed into the structure by adjusting the spacing and size of holes in the pattern. The key operating principle is excitation of an absorptive, electromagnetic resonance in the structure by laser light, combined with a thermooptic response. Shifting of the resonance in time leads to a sudden increase in absorptive heating when the resonance aligns with the laser wavelength. We use optical transmission measurements to characterize the heating behavior in both air and water and demonstrate controlled microbubble formation.