Enhancement of the Power Conversion Efficiency of Organic Solar Cells by Surface Patterning of Azobenzene Thin Films

Tadeson, Genevieve; Sabat, Ribal Georges

doi:10.1021/acsomega.9b02844

Cited by 12 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…AZO-polymer–based patterns have been increasingly used as templates for the fabrication of periodic arrays, including titanium dioxide, indium tin oxide, and metallic nanostructures [ 84 , 85 ]. When combined with GDs, the SRG effect on AZO-polymers opens a potential application for solar cells and lasers [ 86 ].…”

Section: Properties Of Gds Azo-polymers and Gd-azo Compositesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strategies for Incorporating Graphene Oxides and Quantum Dots into Photoresponsive Azobenzenes for Photonics and Thermal Applications

2021

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Graphene represents a new generation of materials which exhibit unique physicochemical properties such as high electron mobility, tunable optics, a large surface to volume ratio, and robust mechanical strength. These properties make graphene an ideal candidate for various optoelectronic, photonics, and sensing applications. In recent years, numerous efforts have been focused on azobenzene polymers (AZO-polymers) as photochromic molecular switches and thermal sensors because of their light-induced conformations and surface-relief structures. However, these polymers often exhibit drawbacks such as low photon storage lifetime and energy density. Additionally, AZO-polymers tend to aggregate even at moderate doping levels, which is detrimental to their optical response. These issues can be alleviated by incorporating graphene derivatives (GDs) into AZO-polymers to form orderly arranged molecules. GDs such as graphene oxide (GO), reduced graphene oxide (RGO), and graphene quantum dots (GQDs) can modulate the optical response, energy density, and photon storage capacity of these composites. Moreover, they have the potential to prevent aggregation and increase the mechanical strength of the azobenzene complexes. This review article summarizes and assesses literature on various strategies that may be used to incorporate GDs into azobenzene complexes. The review begins with a detailed analysis of structures and properties of GDs and azobenzene complexes. Then, important aspects of GD-azobenzene composites are discussed, including: (1) synthesis methods for GD-azobenzene composites, (2) structure and physicochemical properties of GD-azobenzene composites, (3) characterization techniques employed to analyze GD-azobenzene composites, and most importantly, (4) applications of these composites in various photonics and thermal devices. Finally, a conclusion and future scope are given to discuss remaining challenges facing GD-azobenzene composites in functional science engineering.

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Section: Properties Of Gds Azo-polymers and Gd-azo Compositesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strategies for Incorporating Graphene Oxides and Quantum Dots into Photoresponsive Azobenzenes for Photonics and Thermal Applications

2021

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“…Surface relief gratings (SRGs) are widely used in spectroscopy [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ], laser beam splitting [ 5 , 6 ], laser material processing [ 7 ], and solar cells [ 8 , 9 ]. Subwavelength versions of SRGs are used for polarization transformation and the generation of vector optical vortex beams [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stacked Polarizing Elements for Controlling Parameters of Surface Relief Gratings Written in Photosensitive Materials

Porfirev,

Khonina,

Ivliev

et al. 2024

Sensors

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Photosensitive materials are widely used for the direct fabrication of surface relief gratings (SRGs) without the selective etching of the material. It is known that the interferometric approach makes it possible to fabricate SRGs with submicron and even subwavelength periods. However, to change the period of the written SRGs, it is necessary to change the convergence angle, shift a sample, and readjust the interferometric setup. Recently, it was shown that structured laser beams with predetermined, periodically modulated polarization distributions can also be used to fabricate SRGs. A structured laser beam with the desired polarization distribution can be formed with just one polarizing optical element—for example, the so-called depolarizer, a patterned micro-retarder array. The use of such stacked elements makes it possible to directly control the modulation period of the polarization of the generated laser beam. We show that this approach allows one to fabricate SRGs with submicron periods. Moreover, the addition of q-plates, elements effectively used to generate cylindrical vector beams with polarization singularities, allows the efficient formation of fork polarization gratings (FPGs) and the fabrication of higher-order fork-shaped SRGs. Full control of the parameters of the generated FPGs is possible. We demonstrate the formation of FPGs of higher orders (up to 12) by only adding first- and second-order q-plates and half-wave plates to the depolarizers. In this work, we numerically and experimentally study the parameters of various types of SRGs formed using these stacked polarizing elements and show the significant potential of this method for the laser processing of photosensitive materials, which often also serve as polarization sensors.

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“…Despite numerous attempts in the development of organic solar cells (OSCs) such as synthesis of novel organic semiconducting materials, controlling the photoactive layer morphology, nano-engineering at the interfaces, understanding the detailed photo-physics of devices, etc., their power conversion efficiency (PCE) remains below the Shockley–Queisser limit. − The major hurdle in improving the performance of OSCs is overcoming the issues related to the fundamental tradeoff between ray optic path length and Augur charge-carrier recombination losses. Due to the lower charge-carrier mobility of organic semiconductors, the physical thickness of photoactive layers is needed to maintain as low as possible to minimize the recombination losses, which certainly limits light absorption. − To overcome this issue, researchers have designed an optically thick medium by employing the elevated local density of optical states (LDOS) in physically thin photoactive layers, using many innovative strategies such as diffraction gratings, V-shaped light trapping structures, photonic crystals, and metal nanostructures. ,− Among these methods, incorporating the plasmonic metal nanostructures is a simple and effective way to attain higher LDOS, which can provide absorption enhancement factors several times higher than the Yablonovitch limit. , Upon interaction with incident light, the metal nanostructures induce two radiative plasmonic effects, near-field enhancement, and far-field scattering, which considerably increase the electric field intensity and optical path length inside the active layer, respectively. , These effects crucially depend on the size and the location of metal nanostructures in the devices. The nanostructures of small size (<20 nm) are highly beneficial as subwavelength antennas and are incorporated inside the active layer to mainly utilize the near-field enhancement effect.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Synergistic Plasmonic Responses of Multi-Shaped Au Nanostructures Hybridized with Few-Layer WS₂ Nanosheets for Organic Solar Cells

Abhijith

Suthar

Karak

2023

ACS Appl. Nano Mater.

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Raising the photocurrent and successively achieving a high power conversion efficiency (PCE) in organic solar cells (OSCs) with physically thin photoactive layers is usually a highly challenging task because of their excitonic nature. Herein, we utilized the synergistic plasmonic effects of multi-shaped Au nanostructures (diameter/edge length ∼50 nm) hybridized with few-layer WS 2 nanosheets in improving the photocurrent of fullerene and non-fullerene-based OSCs. A PCE enhancement of more than 15% and an external quantum efficiency improvement in a broad wavelength range of 350−700 nm were demonstrated by incorporating these Au-WS 2 nanohybrids as an interlayer between hole transport and photoactive layers. The PCE enhancement was mainly due to the improved photocurrent (∼12.41%) via broad-range plasmonic effects of Au nanostructures. Finite-difference time-domain simulations were performed to comprehensively study the plasmonic responses, such as scattering efficiency, direction-dependent scattering, and near-field effects of individual nanostructures. The effective plasmonic range over 350−700 nm and more than 50% forward light scattering indicated that these hybridized Au nanostructures are highly suitable candidates to couple the incident light into the active layer. Near-field intensity enhancement and subsequent enhancement in absorption density confirmed the elevated local density of optical states in Au-WS 2 nanohybrid-based devices. Therefore, the present study emphasizes the role of hybridized Au-WS 2 nanostructures in improving the light-harvesting capability of OSCs in a broad wavelength range, hence attaining a significant improvement in device photocurrent.

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Enhancement of the Power Conversion Efficiency of Organic Solar Cells by Surface Patterning of Azobenzene Thin Films

Cited by 12 publications

References 48 publications

Strategies for Incorporating Graphene Oxides and Quantum Dots into Photoresponsive Azobenzenes for Photonics and Thermal Applications

Strategies for Incorporating Graphene Oxides and Quantum Dots into Photoresponsive Azobenzenes for Photonics and Thermal Applications

Stacked Polarizing Elements for Controlling Parameters of Surface Relief Gratings Written in Photosensitive Materials

Synergistic Plasmonic Responses of Multi-Shaped Au Nanostructures Hybridized with Few-Layer WS₂ Nanosheets for Organic Solar Cells

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Enhancement of the Power Conversion Efficiency of Organic Solar Cells by Surface Patterning of Azobenzene Thin Films

Cited by 12 publications

References 48 publications

Strategies for Incorporating Graphene Oxides and Quantum Dots into Photoresponsive Azobenzenes for Photonics and Thermal Applications

Strategies for Incorporating Graphene Oxides and Quantum Dots into Photoresponsive Azobenzenes for Photonics and Thermal Applications

Stacked Polarizing Elements for Controlling Parameters of Surface Relief Gratings Written in Photosensitive Materials

Synergistic Plasmonic Responses of Multi-Shaped Au Nanostructures Hybridized with Few-Layer WS2 Nanosheets for Organic Solar Cells

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Product

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Synergistic Plasmonic Responses of Multi-Shaped Au Nanostructures Hybridized with Few-Layer WS₂ Nanosheets for Organic Solar Cells