Metal-Based Solar Cells To Be Cheaper But More Efficient - Rice Researchers
If one goes about assessing the technical breakthroughs in the industry of solar energy, we find that a lot of ground to cover, especially in the field of reducing costs of generating solar electricity. On one hand demand for green energy is increasing every year and on the other nations are trying to boost their scientific prowess to harness the solar power in a much better way. In the latest research work put forth by Rice University scientists, it has been found that light-capturing nanomaterials can be used to reduce costs and boost efficiency of photovoltaic solar cells. They applied the innovative theoretical analysis to observations from a experimental setup to create a new methodology. Using this, solar engineer can determine the potential of producing electricity for any arrangement of metallic nanoparticles.
When light is directed on a metallic nanostructures, a subset of electrons in the metal gets excited. These hot electrons are useful for creating devices that product direct current as well as for driving chemical reactions on inert metal surfaces.
Most photovoltaic cells used today are created using expensive materials such as gallium or indium. To lower those manufacturing costs, scientists suggest that high-efficiency plasmonic nanostructures should be incorporated with low-cost semiconductors such as metal oxides. Not only will they be less expensive, but also bear the optical properties that can be controlled by modifying their shape.
In the study presented by Rice University researchers, it has come to light that hot electrons can be produced in plasmonic-based devices. To do this, photon's energy needs to be absorbed instead of scattering it out. Though as of now it was possible to determine the total electrons produced, but they weren't able to determine how many of those electrons are actually useful high-energy hot electrons.
To achieve this, Rice researchers created two kinds of plasmonic devices, each containing a
plasmonic gold nanowire on top a semiconducting layer of titanium dioxide.
In the first setup gold was placed directly on the semiconductor. This created a microelectronic structure called a Schottky barrier and allowed only hot electrons to pass. In the second setup, a thin layer of pure titanium was placed between the gold and the titanium dioxide and it allowed all electrons to pass.
Their findings showed that hot electrons weren't related with total absorption. Instead, they were driven by a new mechanism called field-intensity enhancement.
The researchers are confident that by modifying their system, they can optimize the output of hot electrons even further. In fact, this is being considered as an important step towards building plasmonic technologies for solar photovoltaic cells so that sunlight is converted into usable electricity in a much more efficient way, at way cheaper costs.
What are your thoughts about that? Share with us in comments below.
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When light is directed on a metallic nanostructures, a subset of electrons in the metal gets excited. These hot electrons are useful for creating devices that product direct current as well as for driving chemical reactions on inert metal surfaces.
Most photovoltaic cells used today are created using expensive materials such as gallium or indium. To lower those manufacturing costs, scientists suggest that high-efficiency plasmonic nanostructures should be incorporated with low-cost semiconductors such as metal oxides. Not only will they be less expensive, but also bear the optical properties that can be controlled by modifying their shape.
In the study presented by Rice University researchers, it has come to light that hot electrons can be produced in plasmonic-based devices. To do this, photon's energy needs to be absorbed instead of scattering it out. Though as of now it was possible to determine the total electrons produced, but they weren't able to determine how many of those electrons are actually useful high-energy hot electrons.
To achieve this, Rice researchers created two kinds of plasmonic devices, each containing a
plasmonic gold nanowire on top a semiconducting layer of titanium dioxide.
In the first setup gold was placed directly on the semiconductor. This created a microelectronic structure called a Schottky barrier and allowed only hot electrons to pass. In the second setup, a thin layer of pure titanium was placed between the gold and the titanium dioxide and it allowed all electrons to pass.
Their findings showed that hot electrons weren't related with total absorption. Instead, they were driven by a new mechanism called field-intensity enhancement.
The researchers are confident that by modifying their system, they can optimize the output of hot electrons even further. In fact, this is being considered as an important step towards building plasmonic technologies for solar photovoltaic cells so that sunlight is converted into usable electricity in a much more efficient way, at way cheaper costs.
What are your thoughts about that? Share with us in comments below.
Source: #-Link-Snipped-#
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