The solar spectrum is a broad and diffuse light source, but solar panels operate most efficiently at wavelengths near the semiconductor bandgap and over a limited range of incident angles. This talk will discuss different strategies to manage the solar spectrum in photovoltaics: the first part will discuss luminescent solar concentrators that harvest diffuse, high energy sunlight and are integrated into architectural panels, where we use nanostructured luminescent materials and photonic surfaces to enhance performance. The second part will discuss optical strategies to reduce the operating temperature of photovoltaic modules.

Our work on luminescent solar concentrators uses two different nanocrystal luminophores, CdSe/CdS core-shell nanocrystals and Si nanocrystals, embedded into a polymer matrix. These light-emitting nanocrystals offer several advantages over dye molecules, but also exhibit detrimental scattering when aggregated. I will discuss the preparation of nanocrystal-polymer composites with high optical clarity for these applications. The CdSe/CdS nanocrystals are embedded into an alternative polymer, PCHE, and coated into very thin films on glass. The Si nanocrystals are incorporated into PMMA and deposited in thin films via blade coating, and we show that this method results in higher loading fractions than bulk composites. We then apply photonic structures to these luminophore-polymer composites that reduce optical losses and assist in guiding light efficiently toward the edge of the concentrator and onto a small-area solar cell.

The second part will discuss photonic structures for light management in photovoltaic modules. These structures are designed to provide both optical and thermal benefit: they act as broadband and omnidirectional antireflection coatings to improve incoupling of sunlight to the module, while simultaneously reflecting near-infrared light to keep the solar cell operating temperature low. We have developed models that predict energy yield improvement for particular locations, based on typical meteorological year data, and agree with experimental measurements on test modules. We use this model to predict and contrast the performance of mirrors on the outer glass, the surface of the cell, and the rear contact, showing that the mirrors on the glass offer the most temperature reduction. Mirrors on the cell surface, while attractive for reduced weathering, are limited by the textured surface of crystalline Si as well as the optical losses of the encapsulant. To circumvent the multiple reflections at the cell surface, we examine an alternative design consisting of idealized scatterers at the cell interface, and compare the performance of these nanostructures to idealized mirrors.

[2]T. M. Sweeney, S. G. Carter, A. S. Bracker, M. Kim, C. S. Kim, L. Yang, P. M. Vora, P. G. Brereton, E. R. Cleveland, and D. Gammon, Nat. Photonics 8, 442 (2014).

[3]S. G. Carter, A. S. Bracker, G. W. Bryant, M. Kim, C. S. Kim, M. K. Zalalutdinov, M. K. Yakes, C. Czarnocki, J. Casara, M. Scheibner, and D. Gammon, Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 246801 (2018).

[4]S. G. Carter, A. S. Bracker, M. K. Yakes, M. K. Zalalutdinov, M. Kim, C. S. Kim, B. Lee, and D. Gammon, Nano Lett. 19, 6166 (2019).

[5]J. Q. Grim, A. S. Bracker, M. Zalalutdinov, S. G. Carter, A. C. Kozen, M. Kim, C. S. Kim, J. T. Mlack, M. Yakes, B. Lee, and D. Gammon, Nat. Mater. 18, 963 (2019).

Dimensionality effect has been found interesting in exploring new physics and effective in engineering materials’ physical properties. However, often intrinsic material behaviors are clouded by the underlying support through strongly-coupled interface. In this talk, I will show our efforts and discovery on developing weakly-coupled epitaxial interface for semiconducting halides. I will present the serendipity and challenges while working on complex oxide interfaces.

The MLD technique could be considered as the ultimate in additive manufacturing where it builds materials one molecular layer at the time from the gas phase. The current presentation will focus on growth of such materials with emphasis on building units containing carboxylic acids. Inorganic carboxylates are mostly stable, offering high saturation of the metal centre’s coordination sphere, leading up to the plethora of such structures as metalorganic frameworks (MOF). Such materials can be grown via the gas phase, and examples from growth of the UiO-66 series with variations in linker length and complexity will be given, in addition to alternative systems. This introduces concepts such as modulation of growth, reservoir effects, tuning of chemical reactivity, and amorphous porosity. The current contribution will provide highlights from such growth of organic- inorganic hybrid materials including MOF materials.

In this talk, we will discuss recent work in hot electron devices, focusing on how graphene enables efficient hot electron devices that go beyond the present state of the art in both electron emission and electrochemistry.

First, we show that the onset of electrochemical and photoelectrochemical reactions on a graphene surface can be modified with a semiconductor-insulator-graphene (SIG) device due to injection of hot-electrons from the silicon to the graphene. We observe that the device functions similar to a catalyst, but modifies electrochemical behavior through purely electronic signals. Unlike a material catalyst, such as platinum, which reduces the overpotential at a given current by modifying the transition state energy, the electronic catalyst explored here tunes the onset potential of the reaction by modifying the energy of photoelectrons with respect to the electrochemical reduction energy levels. As a model systems, the hydrogen evolution reaction on graphene is shown to be modified in an n-Si/Al₂O₃/graphene electrochemical device, and a p-Si/Al₂O₃/graphene photoelectrochemical device. Uniquely, it is shown that for every volt of bias applied across the silicon-insulator-graphene junction, the onset of hydrogen reduction on the graphene surface is modified by 1.45 V with a saturation photocurrent density of ~40 mA/cm² indicating nearly ideal minority carrier collection despite the insulator layer.

Next, we show how hot-electron processes can dramatically reduce the optical power densities required for photoemission. In metallic emitters, single-photon, multi-photon, or strong-field emission processes are the three mechanisms via which photoemission takes place. Photons with energy lower than the material workfunction can only drive photoemission through the multi-photon, or strong-field processes, both of which require large optical powers, limiting the integration of photoemitters with photonic integrated circuits. Here, we show that a waveguide integrated graphene electron emitter excited with 3.06 eV photons from a continuous wave (CW) laser exhibits two hot-electron processes that drive photoemission at peak powers >5 orders of magnitude lower than previously reported multi-photon and strong-field metallic photoemitters. Optical power dependent studies combined with modeling illustrate that the observed behavior can be explained by considering direct emission of excited electrons. These processes are dramatically enhanced in graphene due to the relatively weak electron-phonon coupling and the single layer structure. These results show that hot electron devices still offer a rich area of exploration.