Description:
3D nanostructure designs for broadband efficiency improvements are still needed for many applications such as photocatalysis, photovoltaics, optoelectronic devices, and other optical devices.
Inventors: Hui Zhao, Shengjie Zhai, Yihong Zhao
Collective expertise includes: Micro and nano fluidics, Lab-on-chip technology, nanotechnology and micro/nano energy conversion Novel Nanomaterials and patterning techniques for bioelectronics, optoelectronics, and photovoltaics, plasmonic-enhanced biosensors for single-molecule biomedical analysis, physiological organ biomimetic system built on a microfluidic chip, multi external driven forced scaffold-free engineering human tissue models, and artificial intelligence-assisted health assessment.
The Invention
Light management comes to be a powerful strategy for a variety of photon-related applications such as photocatalysis, photovoltaics, optoelectronic devices, and other optical devices. Specific processes are provided for 3D disordered nanostructure designs based on spatial distributions, including the design of surface morphology and arrangement at the x-y plane and randomized heights along the z-direction. Programming binary data is employed as an efficient method to bridge the physical appearance and the mathematical model, which enables us to design and optimize the nanostructure easier.
Benefits/advantages
- A fast and cheap way to make antireflection coating to improve the solar cell efficiency at large incident angles.
- Due to the design of deterministic disordered nanostructured surface morphology and arrangement at the x-y plane, the binary matrices enable us to generate different 2D patterns of nanostructure relying on their surface morphology and arrangement.
Applications
- Photocatalysis, Photovoltaics, optoelectronic devices, and other optical devices.
- Thin film solar cells
- LED
- It is currently supported by STTR phase 2 from The Air Force and their research lab is interested in supporting it further to scale it up for commercial applications.
Market Opportunity
The global nanomaterials market size was valued at USD 10.88 billion in 2022 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.8% from 2023 to 2030. The market is expected to be driven by increasing demand for the product in electronic applications owing to its increased surface area at the time of application coupled with its high superparamagnetic properties.
Nanomanufacturing, the commercially-scalable and economically-sustainable mass production of nanoscale materials and devices, represents the tangible outcome of the nanotechnology revolution. Nanotechnology has the potential to make a significant impact in a multitude of diverse areas. It offers precise control over composition and nanostructure of materials enabling the production of multifunctional devices with unique properties, ranging from multiferroics to nanocomposites.