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Title: Plasmonic hole arrays for combined photon and electron management

Abstract

Material architectures that balance optical transparency and electrical conductivity are highly sought after for thin-film device applications. However, these are competing properties, since the electronic structure that gives rise to conductivity typically also leads to optical opacity. Nanostructured metal films that exhibit extraordinary optical transmission, while at the same time being electrically continuous, offer considerable flexibility in the design of their transparency and resistivity. In this paper, we present design guidelines for metal films perforated with arrays of nanometer-scale holes, discussing the consequences of the choice of nanostructure dimensions, of the type of metal, and of the underlying substrate on their electrical, optical, and interfacial properties. We experimentally demonstrate that such films can be designed to have broad-band optical transparency while being an order of magnitude more conductive than indium tin oxide. Finally, prototypical photovoltaic devices constructed with perforated metal contacts convert ~18% of the incident photons, compared to <1% for identical devices having contacts without the hole array.

Authors:
ORCiD logo; ORCiD logo;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
OSTI Identifier:
1334353
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1332018; OSTI ID: 1341643
Report Number(s):
BNL-113362-2016-JA
Journal ID: ISSN 0003-6951
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0012704
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Published Article
Journal Name:
Applied Physics Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters Journal Volume: 109 Journal Issue: 20; Journal ID: ISSN 0003-6951
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY; metallic thin films; silver; thin film structure; solar cells; metal optics

Citation Formats

Liapis, Andreas C., Sfeir, Matthew Y., and Black, Charles T. Plasmonic hole arrays for combined photon and electron management. United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.1063/1.4967791.
Liapis, Andreas C., Sfeir, Matthew Y., & Black, Charles T. Plasmonic hole arrays for combined photon and electron management. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4967791
Liapis, Andreas C., Sfeir, Matthew Y., and Black, Charles T. 2016. "Plasmonic hole arrays for combined photon and electron management". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4967791.
@article{osti_1334353,
title = {Plasmonic hole arrays for combined photon and electron management},
author = {Liapis, Andreas C. and Sfeir, Matthew Y. and Black, Charles T.},
abstractNote = {Material architectures that balance optical transparency and electrical conductivity are highly sought after for thin-film device applications. However, these are competing properties, since the electronic structure that gives rise to conductivity typically also leads to optical opacity. Nanostructured metal films that exhibit extraordinary optical transmission, while at the same time being electrically continuous, offer considerable flexibility in the design of their transparency and resistivity. In this paper, we present design guidelines for metal films perforated with arrays of nanometer-scale holes, discussing the consequences of the choice of nanostructure dimensions, of the type of metal, and of the underlying substrate on their electrical, optical, and interfacial properties. We experimentally demonstrate that such films can be designed to have broad-band optical transparency while being an order of magnitude more conductive than indium tin oxide. Finally, prototypical photovoltaic devices constructed with perforated metal contacts convert ~18% of the incident photons, compared to <1% for identical devices having contacts without the hole array.},
doi = {10.1063/1.4967791},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1334353}, journal = {Applied Physics Letters},
issn = {0003-6951},
number = 20,
volume = 109,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Nov 14 00:00:00 EST 2016},
month = {Mon Nov 14 00:00:00 EST 2016}
}

Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record at https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4967791

Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 3 works
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Works referencing / citing this record:

Recent Advances of Plasmonic Organic Solar Cells: Photophysical Investigations
journal, January 2018


p‐Type Doped AlAsSb/GaSb Resonant Tunneling Diode Photodetector for the Mid‐Infrared Spectral Region
journal, October 2018