Efficient harvesting of solar energy: plasmon enhanced upconversion for organic photovoltaics

In a conventional solar cell, over half of the incident sunlight goes to waste, due to failure by the stable semiconductors to absorb the lower energy ranges of the solar spectrum. Attempts to improve the semiconductor absorption capabilities have proved difficult, with relatively little progress made thus far.
An alternative solution is to make the most of existing semiconductor materials by tuning the incident sunlight into more easily absorbed frequencies. The ‘upconversion’ materials used in this technique, which convert the lower frequency light into higher frequency light, have great potential to increase the efficiency of solar cell technology. However, the conversion efficiency of the upconversion technique is currently too low (~1%) to provide substantial improvement.
This project aims to combine the ‘plasmon enhancement effect’, which amplifies local electric and magnetic fields, with upconversion in order to enhance both the absorption and the emission of light. TO BE CONT’D

Faculty Supervisor:

Yuning Li

Student:

Partner:

Seoul National University

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Education

University:

University of Waterloo

Program: