Rational Design of Three-dimensional Nanophotonic Structures for Efficient Solar Energy Harvesting

Speaker:Prof.Zhiyong Fan (HKUST)

Time and Date: 9:30- , May. 25, 2015

Place: Room 138, Physics Building, Handan Campus

 

 

Abstract

Materials made of nano/micro-structures have unique physical properties, such as fast carrier transport, high surface-to-volume ratio, mechanical flexibility, sub-wavelength optical waveguiding, etc. These intriguing properties can be harnessed for a variety of applications in electronics and photonics. Recently, study of interaction between arrays of regular nanostructures and photons has triggered tremendous interest for seeking efficient light management schemes. Particularly, a number of nanostructures have been investigated for efficient solar energy harvesting, they have demonstrated light trapping capability to improve optical absorption, as well as improved photo-carrier collection performance. However, low cost and scalable fabrication processes of nanostructures, and rational design guidelines for efficient solar energy harvesting devices are still in urgent need. In the past, we have developed a set of versatile approaches to fabricate a variety of three-dimensional (3-D) nanostructures, including nanowells, nanopillars, nanospikes, nanocones, as well as more complex integrated nanostructures. These 3-D structures have demonstrated geometry dependent photon management properties thus have promising potential for solar energy harvesting applications. In this presentation, the low cost and scalable nanofabrication approach for regular arrays of nanostructures will be introduced, followed by systematic optical and electrical property investigations on these nanostructures using both experimental and finite element modeling approaches. These fundamental investigations provide design guidelines for solar energy harvesting devices. To explore their applications for efficient light harvesting, they have been fabricated into various thin film photovoltaic devices using organic, inorganic and organic-inorganic hybrid materials. Our studies have shown that properly designed and engineered 3-D nanostructures can demonstrate improved performance as compared to their conventional planar counterparts, indicating their potency for implementing cost-effective energy harvesting devices in large scale.

 

 

Biography

Dr. Zhiyong Fan received his B. S. and M. S. degrees in Materials Science from Fudan University, Shanghai, China, in 1998 and 2001. He received Ph.D. degree from University of California, Irvine in 2006 in Materials Science as well. From 2007 to 2010, he worked at University of California, Berkeley as a postdoctoral fellow in department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, with a joint appointment with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. In May 2010, he joined The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) as an assistant professor in department of Electronic and Computer Engineering. Currently he is serving as a steering committee member of HKUST William Mong Institute of Nano Science and Technology, and a scientific committee member of HKUST Energy Institute. He also serves as an editorial borad member of Nature Publish Group Scientific Reports and Associate Editor of Springer Nanoscale Research Letters and Science Bulletin. Dr. Fan’s research interest focuses on fabrication and characterization of nanomaterials and nanostructures, their applications for electronics and energy harvesting. He has published around 100 referred papers on Nature Materials, Nature Communications, PNAS, Nano Letters, Advanced Materials, etc., with around 5,500 web of science citations.