Growth Engineering of Plasmonic Nanostructures with ALD

ALD 等离子纳米结构的生长工程

• 批准号: 2232057
• 负责人: Brian Willis
• 金额: $ 46.41万
• 依托单位: University of Connecticut
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-09-01 至 2026-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2232057&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Growth; Engineering; Plasmonic; Nanostructures; ALD

Solar energy is a critical component of the national strategy to transition our economy away from fossil fuels to combat carbon dioxide emissions and climate change. Sunlight is composed of different wavelengths of electromagnetic energy that primarily range from ultraviolet to infrared, with visible light in between. Current photovoltaic (PV) solar cell technologies based on silicon and other semiconductors capture only a portion of the electromagnetic energy from the sun due to their intrinsic electrical properties. The partial collection and use of sunlight limits their efficiency and the amount of power that can be generated from a given solar cell area, e.g., the most common silicon PV cell has an absolute upper efficiency limit of 32%. Light has properties of both photons and electromagnetic waves and there are advantages to harvesting sunlight’s electromagnetic waves with new types of solar cells made with antennas. Nanoscale antennas are more flexible than PV materials and may be useful to collect the portion of the solar spectrum that current semiconductor PV cells are incapable of converting to electrical current. In this research project, the properties of nanoscale antenna arrays, together with nanofabrication techniques capable of atomistic levels of control, will be studied to advance understanding of how new materials may help harvest solar energy. The project also will support the recruitment and education of a diverse STEM workforce. Both undergraduate and graduate engineering students will participate in the research activities.An experimental research program is proposed to investigate process engineering of plasmonic nanostructures for energy applications. Plasmonic materials have a growing number of applications in photocatalysis, chemical sensors, electro-optics, and energy generation. Plasmonic nanostructures are especially interesting for collecting solar energy due to strongly enhanced light-matter interactions that excite localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPR). Nanostructures can be engineered so that plasmon resonances directly overlap the solar spectrum, including the UV, visible, and near-infrared (NIR) regions, which makes them highly suitable for solar energy harvesting, overcoming the band-gap-limited nature of semiconductor PV cells. One of the new applications for plasmonics is collecting light with optical frequency antennas. Plasmonic antennas are nanostructures that convert electromagnetic (EM) energy into electrical currents and voltages. They can enhance solar energy technology by collecting unused NIR regions of the solar spectrum to enhance overall efficiency. To collect sunlight efficiently, the plasmonic antennas must have nanoscale features (tunnel junctions) that are impossible to generate with current nanofabrication methods. Therefore, it is proposed that area-selective atomic layer deposition (AS-ALD) will be combined with nanofabrication to create the interconnected arrays of antenna junctions. Methods to reduce the temperature and the exposure times of current metal AS-ALD processes will be investigated.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

太阳能是国家战略的关键组成部分，将我们的经济从化石燃料转移到打击二氧化碳排放和气候变化。阳光由不同的电磁能的不同波长组成，主要的电磁能范围从紫外线到红外，两者之间可见光。基于硅和其他半导体的电流光伏（PV）太阳能电池技术仅由于其内在的电性能而从太阳中捕获了一部分电磁能。阳光的部分收集和使用限制了它们的效率以及可以从给定的太阳能电池区域产生的功率量，例如，最常见的硅PV电池的绝对上限效率极限为32％。光具有照片和电磁波的特性，并且使用天线制成的新型太阳能电池来收集Sunlight的电磁波。纳米级天线比PV材料更灵活，并且可能有助于收集太阳光谱的一部分，即电流半导体PV细胞无法转化为电流。在该研究项目中，将研究纳米级天线阵列的性能以及能够控制原子水平的纳米制作技术，以促进对新材料如何帮助收获太阳能的理解。该项目还将支持潜水员STEM劳动力的招聘和教育。本科生和研究生工程专业的学生都将参加研究活动。提出了一项实验研究计划，以调查用于能源应用的血浆纳米结构的工程工程。等离子体材料在光催化，化学传感器，电启动和能量产生中的应用越来越多。血浆纳米结构对于收集太阳能而尤其有趣，这是由于强烈增强的光 - 物质相互作用激发了局部表面等离子体共振（LSPR）。可以设计纳米结构，以使等离子体共振直接与太阳光谱重叠，包括紫外线，可见和近红外（NIR）区域，这使得它们非常适合太阳能收集，克服了半导体PV细胞的带隙限制性质。血浆的新应用之一是用光学频率天线收集光。等离子体天线是将电子（EM）能量转换为电流和电压的纳米结构。他们可以通过收集未使用的太阳能频谱的NIR地区来增强太阳能技术，从而提高整体效率。为了有效地收集阳光，血浆天线必须具有纳米级特征（隧道连接），而这些特征是无法使用当前的纳米制作方法产生的。因此，有人提出，区域选择性原子层沉积（AS-AD）将与纳米化作用结合起来，以创建互连的天线连接阵列。将研究降低温度和暴露时间的方法。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响标准，被视为通过评估而被视为珍贵的支持。