Optimization of hierarchical structure and nanoscale-enabled plasmonic refraction for window electrodes in photovoltaics.
An ideal network window electrode for photovoltaic applications should provide an optimal surface coverage, a uniform current density into and/or from a substrate, and a minimum of the overall resistance for a given shading ratio. Here we show that metallic networks with quasi-fractal structure provides a near-perfect practical realization of such an ideal electrode. We find that a leaf venation network, which possesses key characteristics of the optimal structure, indeed outperforms other networks. We further show that elements of hierarchal topology, rather than details of the branching geometry, are of primary importance in optimizing the networks, and demonstrate this experimentally on five model artificial hierarchical networks of varied levels of complexity. In addition to these structural effects, networks containing nanowires are shown to acquire transparency exceeding the geometric constraint due to the plasmonic refraction.
Institute for Advanced Materials and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Quantum Engineering and Quantum Materials, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China.
Bing
B
Han
Institute for Advanced Materials and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Quantum Engineering and Quantum Materials, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China.
Qiang
Q
Peng
Institute for Advanced Materials and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Quantum Engineering and Quantum Materials, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China.
Ruopeng
R
Li
Institute for Advanced Materials and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Quantum Engineering and Quantum Materials, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China.
Qikun
Q
Rong
Institute for Advanced Materials and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Quantum Engineering and Quantum Materials, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China.
Yang
Y
Ding
Department of Physics, Freie Universität Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany.|Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, 14476 Potsdam, Germany.
Eser Metin
EM
Akinoglu
Department of Physics, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467, USA.
Xueyuan
X
Wu
Electronic Paper Displays Institute, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China.
Xin
X
Wang
Institute for Advanced Materials and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Quantum Engineering and Quantum Materials, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China.
Xubing
X
Lu
School of Chemistry and Environment, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China.
Qianming
Q
Wang
Electronic Paper Displays Institute, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China.
Guofu
G
Zhou
Institute for Advanced Materials and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Quantum Engineering and Quantum Materials, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China.|Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.
Jun-Ming
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8988-8429
JM
Liu
Department of Physics and TcSUH, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204, USA.
Zhifeng
Z
Ren
Department of Physics, Freie Universität Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany.|Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, Institut Nanoarchitekturen für die Energieumwandlung, 14109 Berlin, Germany.
Michael
M
Giersig
Department of Physics, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467, USA.
Andrzej
A
Herczynski
Institute for Advanced Materials and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Quantum Engineering and Quantum Materials, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China.|Department of Physics, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467, USA.
Krzysztof
K
Kempa
Institute for Advanced Materials and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Quantum Engineering and Quantum Materials, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China.
Jinwei
J
Gao
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