Nanoscience Colloquium - Prof. Esther Alarcon Llado (AMOLF, The Netherlands) - "Managing light and matter at the nanoscale towards high efficiency solar energy conversion"

Tuesday 24 May 2022, 15:00 → 16:00 Europe/Stockholm

Rydberg hall

Abstract: "Nanostructured metals and semiconductors are promising building blocks for next generation solar energy conversion, including solar cells and solar fuel devices, as they offer a plethora of unique light-matter interactions and can be potentially made with low-cost fabrication methods. From the optical perspective, nanostructure (NS) ensembles constitute a new class of metamaterial, where the optical properties (light absorption, transmission and scattering) of the ensemble are ruled by the NS geometry and collective arrangement. From these properties, a new variety of solar cell designs emerge, that are not possible in the bulk form.

In my group, we particularly focus on waveguiding phenomena that can lead to new high efficiency solar cell designs while minimizing material usage and/or enabling new additional functionalities. As an example, we have used the waveguiding characteristics in thin semiconductor nanowires to design new optically smart tandem solar cells with just a fraction of raw material, or even to create a new type of colorful solar cells with minimal current losses. As another example, we have recently demonstrated the highest absorption in 1 µm Si slabs by using rationally designed nanopatterns that maximize broadband coupling to waveguide modes.

Despite the great potential for such nanostructured architectures for PV, the still ongoing challenge for nanoscale solar energy devices is how to cost-effectively fabricate large area NS arrays on a substrate. In our group we also develop new methods for the nanoscale control over electrochemical deposition as an emerging low-cost tool for nanomaterial fabrication. We have shown the successful nanostructure growth of various materials, from InAs to various metals, and from a single nano-structure to large area arrays."

 

Host: Magnus Borgström