Wook Seong Lee

Size effects of metal nanoparticles embedded in a buffer layer of organic photovoltaics on plasmonic absorption enhancement

The effects of Au or Ag nanoparticles on optical absorption enhancement of organic photovoltaics based on blended poly(3-hexylthiophene)?:?phyenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT?:?PCBM) were investigated using a finite-difference-time-domain method. The spherical metal nanoparticles were embedded in a buffer layer of thickness 20?nm and their size was varied from 10 to 50?nm. The metal nanoparticles with diameter 10?20?nm offered negligible absorption enhancement in the active layer. Unlike those short metal nanoparticles, the incorporation of metal nanoparticles taller than the buffer layer led to a significant absorption enhancement by plasmonic resonance especially in the case of Ag nanoparticles. Ag nanoparticles gave broader and stronger absorption enhancement in the active layer than Au nanoparticles. An enhancement of 34% in the optical absorption of the active layer was observed with Ag nanoparticles of 50?nm diameter at 10% coverage. The electric field distributions around metal nanoparticles, their self-absorption and the active layer thickness dependence on the absorption enhancement were studied.

Plasmonic nanograting design for inverted polymer solar cells

Plasmonic nanostructures for effective light trapping in a variety of photovoltaics have been actively studied. Metallic nanograting structures are one of promising architectures. In this study, we investigated numerically absorption enhancement mechanisms in inverted polymer photovoltaics with one dimensional Ag nanograting in backcontact. An optical spacer layer of TiO2, which also may act as an electron transport layer, was introduced between nanograting pillars. Using a finite-difference-time domain method and performing a modal analysis, we explored correlations between absorption enhancements and dimensional parameters of nanograting such as period as well as height and width. The optimal design of nanograting for effective light trapping especially near optical band gap of an active layer was discussed, and 23% of absorption enhancement in a random polarization was demonstrated numerically with the optimally designed nanograting. In addition, the beneficial role of the optical spacer in plasmonic light trapping was also discussed.

Silicon nanodisk array design for effective light trapping in ultrathin c-Si

The use of ultrathin c-Si (crystalline silicon) wafers thinner than 20 μm for solar cells is a very promising approach to realize dramatic reduction in cell cost. However, the ultrathin c-Si requires highly effective light trapping to compensate optical absorption reduction. Conventional texturing in micron scale is hardly applicable to the ultrathin c-Si wafers; thus, nano scale texturing is demanded. In general, nanotexturing is inevitably accompanied by surface area enlargements, which must be minimized in order to suppress surface recombination of minority carriers. In this study, we demonstrate using optical simulations that periodic c-Si nanodisk arrays of short heights less than 200 nm and optimal periods are very useful in terms of light trapping in the ultrathin c-Si wafers while low surface area enlargements are maintained. Double side texturing with the nanodisk arrays leads to over 90% of the Lambertian absorption limit while the surface area enlargement is kept below 1.5.

Optical design of transparent metal grids for plasmonic absorption enhancement in ultrathin organic solar cells

Transparent metal grid combining with plasmonic absorption enhancement is a promising replacement to indium tin oxide thin films. We numerically demonstrate metal grids in one or two dimension lead to plasmonic absorption enhancements in ultrathin organic solar cells. In this paper, we study optical design of metal grids for plasmonic light trapping and identify different plasmonic modes of the surface plasmon polaritons excited at the interfaces of glass/metal grids, metal grids/active layers, and the localized surface plasmon resonance of the metal grids using numerical calculations. One dimension metal grids with the optimal design of a width and a period lead to the absorption enhancement in the ultrathin active layers of 20 nm thickness by a factor of 2.6 under transverse electric polarized light compared to the case without the metal grids. Similarly, two dimensional metal grids provide the absorption enhancement by a factor of 1.8 under randomly polarized light.

Photocurrent enhancements of organic solar cells by altering dewetting of plasmonic Ag nanoparticles

Incorporation of metal nanoparticles into active layers of organic solar cells is one of the promising light trapping approaches. The size of metal nanoparticles is one of key factors to strong light trapping, and the size of thermally evaporated metal nanoparticles can be tuned by either post heat treatment or surface modification of substrates. We deposited Ag nanoparticles on ITO by varying nominal thicknesses, and post annealing was carried out to increase their size in radius. PEDOT:PSS was employed onto the ITO substrates as a buffer layer to alter the dewetting behavior of Ag nanoparticles. The size of Ag nanoparticles on PEDOT:PSS were dramatically increased by more than three times compared to those on the ITO substrates. Organic solar cells were fabricated on the ITO and PEDOT:PSS coated ITO substrates with incorporation of those Ag nanoparticles, and their performances were compared. The photocurrents of the cells with the active layers on PEDOT:PSS with an optimal choice of the Ag nanoparticles were greatly enhanced whereas the Ag nanoparticles on the ITO substrates did not lead to the photocurrent enhancements. The origin of the photocurrent enhancements with introducing the Ag nanoparticles on PEDOT:PSS are discussed.

Plasmonic absorption enhancement in organic solar cells by nano disks in a buffer layer

We demonstrate using finite-difference-time-domain calculations that embedding Ag nano disks (NDs) in the buffer layers of thin P3HT:PCBM organic solar cells can enhance optical absorption in the active layers at specific wavelength range. We show that the aspect ratio of the NDs is a key parameter for strong plasmonic absorption enhancement. Two different plasmonic absorption bands are observed stemming from optical refractive index differences among the layers surrounding the NDs in the solar cell devices. One absorption band by the surface plasmon mode localized at the interface of indium tin oxide/ND, which is undesirable for plasmonic absorption enhancement in the active layer, become negligible as the aspect ratio of the diameter-to-height increased. The other absorption band by the dipole-like surface plasmon mode, which plays a main role in enhancing the absorption in the active layer, is spectrally tunable by adjusting the aspect ratio of the NDs. The influences of diameter, height, and coverage ...

Thickness dependence of surface plasmon resonance sensor response for metal ion detection

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor is one of the most viable technologies for portable and highly sensitive sensing in clinical and environmental applications. A lot of research on SPR sensors based on plasticized polyvinyl chloride (PVC) sensing layers for detection of various metal ions has been well reported, but a study on their correlation between sensing layer thickness and sensor response has been rarely done. The purpose of this study is to investigate thickness dependence of sensing layers on the response time and the sensitivity of SPR sensors based on plasticized PVC. Calcium ionophore was incorporated in the sensing layers for calcium ion detection. Our experimental results showed that thicker sensing layers exhibited higher sensitivity and wider detection range but longer response time. We discussed metal ion diffusion in plasticized sensing layers by correlating numerical calculations with experimental ones in order to understand temporal response of our SPR sensor. The response time also relied on the flow rate of calcium ion solutions, indicating that metal ion diffusion in bulk media is one of the limiting factors.

Fabrication of parabolic Si nanostructures by nanosphere lithography and its application for solar cells

We demonstrated fabrication of a parabola shaped Si nanostructures of various periods by combined approach of nanosphere lithography and a single step CF4/O2 reactive ion etch (RIE) process. Silica nanosphere monolayers in a hexagonal array were well deposited by a solvent controlled spin coating technique based on binary organic solvents. We showed numerically that a parabolic Si nanostructure of an optimal period among various-shaped nanostructures overcoated with a dielectric layer of a 70u2009nm thickness provide the most effective antireflection. As the simulation results as a design guide, we fabricated the parabolic Si nanostructures of a 520u2009nm period and a 300u2009nm height exhibiting the lowest weighted reflectance of 2.75%. With incorporation of such parabolic Si nanostructures, a damage removal process for 20u2009sec and SiNx antireflection coating of a 70u2009nm thickness, the efficiency of solar cells increased to 17.2% while that of the planar cells without the nanostructures exhibited 16.2%. The efficiency enhancement of the cell with the Si nanostructures was attributed to the improved photocurrents arising from the broad spectral antireflection which was confirmed by the external quantum efficiency (EQE) measurements.

Chromate adsorption mechanism on nanodiamond-derived onion-like carbon

The onion-like carbon (OLC) was prepared as adsorbent and tested for the removal of chromate ions from aqueous solutions. The OLC was thermally derived from nanodiamond by vacuum annealing at 1000-2000°C. An investigation was conducted the chromate adsorption mechanism of OLC, by analysing the temperature-dependent evolution of the various oxygen-carbon bonds and the chemisorbed water by X-ray photo electron spectroscopy, as well as by the first principle calculation of the bond energies for relevant bond configurations. The present work demonstrated the importance of the carbon-oxygen bond type and carbon dangling bonds for chromate adsorption, as well as for other anionic heavy metals adsorbed from wastewater and sewage.

Random Si nanopillars for broadband antireflection in crystalline silicon solar cells

We demonstrate the fabrication of shallow Si nanopillar structures at a submicron scale which provides broadband antireflection for crystalline Si (c-Si) solar cells in the wavelength range of 350 nm–1100 nm. The Si random nanopillars were made by reactive ion etch (RIE) processing with thermally dewetted Sn metals as an etch mask. The diameters and coverages of the Si nanopillars were adjusted in a wide range of the nanoscale to microscale by varying the nominal thickness of the Sn metals and subsequent annealing temperatures. The height of the nanopillars was controlled by the RIE process time. The optimal size of the nanopillars, which are 340 nm in diameter and 150 nm in height, leads to the lowest average reflectance of 3.6%. We showed that the power conversion efficiency of the c-Si solar cells could be enhanced with the incorporation of optimally designed Si random nanopillars from 13.3% to 14.0%. The fabrication scheme of the Si nanostructures we propose in this study would be a cost-effective and promising light trapping technique for efficient c-Si solar cells.