In silico design of metal-dielectric nanocomposites for solar energy applications

Justin Trice; Hernando Garcia; Radhakrishna Sureshkumar; Ramki Kalyanaraman

doi:10.1117/12.734531

10 September 2007 In silico design of metal-dielectric nanocomposites for solar energy applications

Justin Trice, Hernando Garcia, Radhakrishna Sureshkumar, Ramki Kalyanaraman

Proceedings Volume 6648, Instrumentation, Metrology, and Standards for Nanomanufacturing; 66480L (2007) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.734531
Event: NanoScience + Engineering, 2007, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Recently, a homogenization procedure has been proposed, based on the tight lower bounds of the Bergman- Milton formulation, and successfully applied to dilute ternary nanocomposites to predict optical data without using any fitting parameters [Garcia et al. Phys. Rev. B, 75, 045439 (2007)]. The procedure has been extended and applied to predict the absorption coefficient of a quaternary nanocomposite consisting of Cu, Ag, and Au nanospheres embedded in a SiO₂ host matrix. Significant enhancement of the absorption coefficient is observed over the spectral range 350-800 nm. The magnitude of this enhancement can be controlled by varying the nanosphere diameter and the individual metal volume fraction with respect to the host matrix. We have determined the optimal composition resulting in enhanced broadband (350nm-800nm) absorption of the solar spectrum using a simulated annealing algorithm. Fabricating such composite materials with a desired optical absorption has potential applications in solar energy harvesting.

Citation Download Citation

Justin Trice, Hernando Garcia, Radhakrishna Sureshkumar, and Ramki Kalyanaraman "In silico design of metal-dielectric nanocomposites for solar energy applications", Proc. SPIE 6648, Instrumentation, Metrology, and Standards for Nanomanufacturing, 66480L (10 September 2007); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.734531

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