Nanomaterials for Light Management in Electro-Optical Devices
1Department of Physics, Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada
2Japan Fine Ceramics Centre, Nagoya, Japan
3School of Engineering and Information Technology, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia
4Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA
Nanomaterials for Light Management in Electro-Optical Devices
Description
In the past decade, nanostructured materials and nanoparticles have emerged as the necessary ingredients for electro-optical applications and enhancement of device performance, in particular by making use of the light management aspects of the nanomaterials. The application areas that are being transformed profoundly include smart coating devices (e.g., electrochromic and photochromic devices), solar energy, and sensing. Despite the large volume of work in the past on smart coating devices, and in particular electrochromic devices, for optical transmission or reflection control, applications remain limited because of slow response time and nonuniformity of properties in the case of large surfaces. Recent works in the field indicated that nanostructured electrochromic coatings would be an integral part of the solution that can be offered. In the area of solar photovoltaics, nanomaterials have been used in designing light trapping schemes for inorganic as well as organic solar cells. One particular category of solar cells that has attracted much interest is the plasmonic solar cells in which metallic nanoparticles are incorporated, helping in enhancing the energy conversion efficiency of solar devices. Nanostructured solar cells would eventually develop into a “game-changing” technology for making solar cells that are affordable and highly efficient. Sensors based on the optical properties of constituting nanostructures and nanoparticles also form a most interesting class of bio- and electrochemical sensing devices. The possibility of synthetizing nanoparticles and structures of specific sizes and shapes has indeed opened a whole new range of sensing applications. In parallel to the experimental development of nanomaterials for light management in devices, theoretical modeling and analysis have also accomplished much progress, and different methods for simulating the optical properties of nanoparticles and structures have been proposed. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:
- Nanomaterials for smart light-management devices (e.g., electrochromic devices)
- Nanomaterials for light management in solar photovoltaics and light emission
- Nanomaterials for light management in sensing applications
- Analysis and computer modeling of optical properties of nanoparticles and structures for light management purposes
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