• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.35 no.4
• /
• pp.392-397
• /
• 2022

We present the structural and optical properties of Au@TiO₂ core-shell microsphere structure prepared by a hydrothermal synthesis method. As a way to improve the efficiency of organic solar cells, the Au@TiO₂ core-shell microsphere was synthesized to use the local surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) phenomenon. The synthesized results were confirmed to have the Au@TiO₂ core-shell structure using a high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. An absorption was observed to occur at 527 nm belonging to the visible light region using a visible light spectroscopy, which supports the LSPR phenomenon. We suggest that the Au@TiO₂ core-shell microsphere is highly likely to be applied to organic solar cells including dye-sensitized solar cells. In addition, we expect it to be widely used not only in the energy but also in the bio as well as in the environmental fields.

• Advances in nano research
• /
• v.3 no.3
• /
• pp.133-141
• /
• 2015

Influence of Ag nanoparticles on optical and photovoltaic properties of, silicon substrates, silicon solar cells and glass have been investigated. Silver nanoparticles have been fabricated by evaporation of thin Ag layers followed by the thermal annealing. The surface plasmon resonance peak was observed in the absorbance spectrum at 470 nm of glass with deposited silver nanoparticles. It is demonstrated that deposition of silver nanoparticles on silicon substrates was accompanied with a significant decrease in reflectance at the wavelength 360-1100 nm and increase of the absorption at wavelengths close to the band gap for Si substrates. We studied influence of Ag nanoparticles on photovoltaic characteristics of silicon solar cells without and with common use antireflection coating (ARC). It is shown that silver nanoparticles deposited onto the front surface of the solar cells without ARC led to increase in the photocurrent density by 39% comparing to cells without Ag nanoparticles. Contrary to this, solar cells with Ag nanoparticles deposited on front surface with ARC discovered decrease in photocurrent density. The improved performance of investigated cells was attributed to Ag-plasmonic excitations that reduce the reflectance from the silicon surface and ultimately leads to the enhanced light absorption in the cell. This study showed possibility of application of Ag nanoparticles for the improvement of the conversion efficiency of waferbased silicon solar cells instead of usual ARC.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.1-5
• /
• 2018

Gas detection is necessary for various reasons, including the prevention of gas leakages and the creation of necessary environmental conditions. Among the gas detection methods, leakage of gas can be confirmed using materials that undergo color changes that are easily distinguished by the naked eye. Metal nanoparticles (NPs) experience variations in their absorption wavelengths under the localized surface plasmon effect (LSPR) with mechanical stresses, which change the distance between NPs. In this study, we attempted to detect the presence of gas utilizing the LSPR-related color change of a chain of Au NPs. The assembly of Au NPs, arranged in a chain shape, experienced a color change from dark blue to purple with a change in the distance between the NPs by applying a physical force, i.e., compression, stretching, and gas pressure. As the force of compression and the degree of stretching increased, the absorption wavelength shifted from doublet peaks at 650 and 550 nm to a singlet peak at 550 nm. Further, applying gas pressure caused an identical color change. With this result, we propose a method that could be applied to all gases that require detection based on gas pressure.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.35 no.9
• /
• pp.2765-2768
• /
• 2014

Flower-like Au nanoparticles, so-called Au nanoflowers (AuNFs), were synthesized by simply adding ascorbic acid to a gold acid solution in the presence of a chitosan biopolymer. The chitosan-entangled AuNFs exhibited strong plasmon absorption in the near-infrared (NIR) wavelength due to the aggregation of primary Au nanoparticles. The chitosan-entangled AuNFs were preferentially adsorbed by Raman-active 2-chlorothiophenol (CTP) molecules, and the CTP-encoded AuNFs (AuNF-CTPs) were subsequently coated with a thin silica layer by a sol-gel reaction with Si alkoxides. The silica-coated AuNFs (AuNF-CTPs@silica) exhibited the distinct Raman signals of adsorbed CTP molecules, as a potential nanoprobe with surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS).

• Proceedings of the Polymer Society of Korea Conference
• /
• 2006.10a
• /
• pp.274-274
• /
• 2006

Recently, conjugated polymer solar cells have attracted a great deal of attention. In this work, we applied the various scanning probe techniques to characterize composite materials typically used to fabricate polymer solar cells: poly-3(hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) and P3HT/PCBM/Au nanoparticle (NP) samples. The latter is studied due to the idea of using the gold NP surface plasmon to enhance the optical absorption of the composite films. AFM is used to characterize the film morphology whereas conducting AFM is used to study the charge transport properties at the nanoscale. We found that there is a direct correlation between the nanoscale charge transport measurements and the device efficiencies.

• Journal of Powder Materials
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.55-59
• /
• 2012

In this work, the silver nanoparticles have been synthesized by electrical explosion of wire in three liquid mediums: deionized water (DIW), polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS) solutions. Absorption in the UV-visible region of these suspensions was measured in the range of 300-800 nm. A surface plasmon peak was observed at ~400 nm in all suspensions in measured wavelength range. Particle size was analyzed by transmission electron microscope. It showed that the particles had nearly spherical shape in all samples. The average particle sizes prepared in DIW, PVP and SDBS solution were 37, 31 and 27 nm, respectively. Stability of the suspensions was estimated by multiple light scattering method. The presence of PVP and SDBS surfactants in the exploding medium resulted in enhanced stability of the silver suspensions.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2013.02a
• /
• pp.334-334
• /
• 2013

In the past decade, the infrared detectors based on intersubband transition in quantum dots (QDs) have attracted much attention due to lower dark currents and increased lifetimes, which are in turn due a three-dimensional confinement and a reduction of scattering, respectively. In parallel, focal plane array development for infrared imaging has proceeded from the first to third generations (linear arrays, 2D arrays for staring systems, and large format with enhanced capabilities, respectively). For a step further towards the next generation of FPAs, it is envisioned that a two-dimensional metal hole array (2D-MHA) structures will improve the FPA structure by enhancing the coupling to photodetectors via local field engineering, and will enable wavelength filtering. In regard to the improved performance at certain wavelengths, it is worth pointing out the structural difference between previous 2D-MHA integrated front-illuminated single pixel devices and back-illuminated devices. Apart from the pixel linear dimension, it is a distinct difference that there is a metal cladding (composed of a number of metals for ohmic contact and the read-out integrated circuit hybridization) in the FPA between the heavily doped gallium arsenide used as the contact layer and the ROIC; on the contrary, the front-illuminated single pixel device consists of two heavily doped contact layers separated by the QD-absorber on a semi-infinite GaAs substrate. This paper is focused on analyzing the impact of a two dimensional metal hole array structure integrated to the back-illuminated quantum dots-in-a-well (DWELL) infrared photodetectors. The metal hole array consisting of subwavelength-circular holes penetrating gold layer (2DAu-CHA) provides the enhanced responsivity of DWELL infrared photodetector at certain wavelengths. The performance of 2D-Au-CHA is investigated by calculating the absorption of active layer in the DWELL structure using a finite integration technique. Simulation results show the enhanced electric fields (thereby increasing the absorption in the active layer) resulting from a surface plasmon, a guided mode, and Fabry-Perot resonances. Simulation method accomplished in this paper provides a generalized approach to optimize the design of any type of couplers integrated to infrared photodetectors.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2013.02a
• /
• pp.588-588
• /
• 2013

Nanoscale noble-metals have attracted enormous attention from researchers in various fields of study because of their unusual optical properties as well as novel chemical properties. They have possible uses in diverse applications such as devices, transistors, optoelectronics, information storages, and energy converters. It is well-known that nanoparticles of noble-metals such as silver and gold show strong absorption bands in the visible region due to their surface-plasmon oscillation modes of conductive electrons. Silver nanocubes stand out from various types of Silver nanostructures (e.g., spheres, rods, bars, belts, and wires) due to their superior performance in a range of applications involvinglocalized surface plasmon resonance, surface-enhanced Raman scattering, and biosensing. In addition, extensive efforts have been devoted to the investigation of Gold-based nanocomposites to achieve high catalytic performances and utilization efficiencies. Furthermore, as the catalytic reactivity of Silver nanostructures depends highly on their morphology, hollow Gold nanoparticles having void interiors may offer additional catalytic advantages due to their increased surface areas. Especially, hollow nanospheres possess structurally tunable features such as shell thickness, interior cavity size, and chemical composition, leading to relatively high surface areas, low densities, and reduced costs compared with their solid counterparts. Thus, hollow-structured noblemetal nanoparticles can be applied to nanometer-sized chemical reactors, efficient catalysts, energy-storage media, and small containers to encapsulate multi-functional active materials. Silver nanocubes dispersed in water have been transformed into Ag@Au nanoboxes, which show highly enhanced catalytic properties, by adding $HAuCl_4$. By using this concept, $SiO_2$-coated Ag@Au nanoboxes have been synthesized via galvanic replacement of $SiO_2$-coated Ag nanocubes. They have lower catalytic ability but more stability than Ag@Au nanoboxes do. Thus, they could be recycled. $SiO_2$-coated Ag@Au nanoboxes have been found to catalyze the degradation of 4-nitrophenol efficiently in the presence of $NaBH_4$. By changing the amount of the added noble metal salt to control the molar ratio Au to Ag, we could tune the catalytic properties of the nanostructures in the reduction of the dyes. The catalytic ability of $SiO_2$-coated Ag@Au nanoboxes has been found to be much more efficient than $SiO_2$-coated Ag nanocubes. Catalytic performances were affected noteworthily by the metals, sizes, and shapes of noble-metal nanostructures.

• Current Optics and Photonics
• /
• v.3 no.2
• /
• pp.135-142
• /
• 2019

We report the precipitation of ZnO nanocrystals, Ag-clusters, and Ag nanoparticles in Ag/Er/Yb doped borate glasses by furnace annealing and $CO_2$ laser annealing. The XRD analysis revealed the precipitation of ZnO and Ag phases. The absorption spectra, the TEM and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) revealed the incorporation of Er and Yb ions into ZnO nanocrystals formed by a laser technique and showed the surface plasmon band of Ag nanoparticles. The down-converted blue emission intensity of $Er^{3+}$ ions obtained under 365 nm excitation was enhanced by more than a hundred times in the glass treated by furnace annealing, mainly due to the energy transfer from Ag-clusters. Moreover, we discussed the contribution of Ag nanoparticles and defects to emission characteristics in the glasses treated by two annealing techniques. Up-conversion emissions of the $Er^{3+}$ ions under 980 nm excitation were enhanced due to the incorporation of $Er^{3+}$ and $Yb^{3+}$ ions into ZnO nanocrystals after thermal treatments.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.29 no.12
• /
• pp.1171-1184
• /
• 2020

The green synthesis of inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) using biomaterials has garnered considerable attention in recent years because of its eco-friendly, non-toxic, simple, and low-cost nature. In this study, we synthesized NPs of noble metals, such as Ag and Au using an aqueous extract of a marine seaweed, Ecklonia cava. The formation of AgNPs and AuNPs was confirmed by the presence of surface plasmon resonance peaks in UV-Vis absorption spectra at approximately 430 and 530 nm, respectively. Various properties of the NPs were evaluated using characterization techniques, such as dynamic light scattering, transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction analysis. Phytochemicals in the seaweed extract, such as phlorotannins, acted as both reducing and stabilizing agents for the growth of the NPs. The green-synthesized AgNPs and AuNPs were found to exhibit high catalytic activity for the decomposition of organic dyes, including azo dyes, methylene blue, rhodamine B, and methyl orange.