Hybrid Plasmonic and Pyroelectric Harvesting of Light FluctuationsShow others and affiliations
2018 (English)In: Advanced Optical Materials, ISSN 2162-7568, E-ISSN 2195-1071Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
State-of-the-art solar energy harvesting systems based on photovoltaic technology require constant illumination for optimal operation. However, weather conditions and solar illumination tend to fluctuate. Here, a device is presented that extracts electrical energy from such light fluctuations. The concept combines light-induced heating of gold nanodisks (acting as plasmonic optical nanoantennas), and an organic pyroelectric copolymer film (poly(vinylidenefluoride-co-trifluoroethylene)), that converts temperature changes into electrical signals. This hybrid device can repeatedly generate current pulses, not only upon the onset of illumination, but also when illumination is blocked. Detailed characterization highlights the key role of the polarization state of the copolymer, while the copolymer thickness has minor influence on performance. The results are fully consistent with plasmon-assisted pyroelectric effects, as corroborated by combined optical and thermal simulations that match the experimental results. Owing to the tunability of plasmonic resonances, the presented concept is compatible with harvesting near infrared light while concurrently maintaining visible transparency.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Wiley-Blackwell, 2018.
Keywords [en]
Gold nanodisks, Plasmonic heating, Pyroelectric copolymers, Solar energy harvesting
National Category
Physical Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-148574DOI: 10.1002/adom.201701051ISI: 000434349300001OAI: oai:DiVA.org:liu-148574DiVA, id: diva2:1217860
Note
Funding agencies: Wenner-Gren Foundations; Swedish Research Council [2015-05070]; Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research; AForsk Foundation; Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences; Swedish Government Strategic Research Area in Materials Science on Functional Materials at Lin
2018-06-132018-06-132018-06-28