Emerging Solar Cells: Generation III solar cells including dye-sensitized, perovskite-sensitized, and organic solar cells have recently emerged as a promising alternative to silicon photovoltaics but low efficiency mainly due to poor light absorption have remained a major roadblock to commercialization. My groups’ approach has focused on integrating metal nanostructures in improving the light harvesting characteristics of the solar cells and improve the overall power conversion efficiency. In this effort, we are designing a new paradigm of shape-, size-, and composition-controlled metal nanostructures engineered to interact with light in unique ways generating novel plasmonic properties. Our efforts are aimed towards harnessing these properties by incorporating them in the solar cell absorbing material to increase the efficiency of dye-sensitized, perovskite-sensitized, and organic solar cells.
Ultrafast Time-resolved Spectroscopy to Probe Optical Phenomena: My group is also focused on understanding the fundamental mechanisms underlying various optical phenomena such as light-to-heat conversion abilities of metal nanostructures, exciton generation in perovskite nanocrystals, plasmonic enhancement in solar materials. We are performing pump-probe transient absorption spectroscopy, and time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy to examine the timescales of electron excitation, electron transfer, and electron relaxation and understand how these fundamental underpinnings impact relevant applications.
Relevant Publications
N. Soetan, A. Puretzky, K. Reid, A. Boulesbaa, H. F. Zarick, A. Hunt, O. Rose, S. Rosenthal, D. B. Geohegan, and R. Bardhan*, “Ultrafast Spectral Dynamics of CsPb(BrxCl1-x)3 Mixed-Halide Nanocrystals”, ACS Photonics, 2018, 5, 3575−3583
W. R. Erwin, R. I. MacKenzie, R. Bardhan*, “Understanding the Limits of Plasmonic Enhancement in Organic Photovoltaics”, J. Phys. Chem. C, 2018, 122, 7859–7866
H. F. Zarick, N. S. Soetan, W. R. Erwin, and R. Bardhan*, “Mixed-Halide Hybrid Perovskites: A Paradigm Shift in Photovoltaics” J. Mater. Chem. A, 2018, 6, 5507 – 5537.
E. M. Talbert#, H. F. Zarick#, A. Boulesbaa, N. Soetan, A. Puretzky, D. Geohegan, and R. Bardhan*, “Bromide Substitution Improves Excited-State Dynamics in Mesoporous Mixed Halide Perovskite Films”, Nanoscale, 2017, 9, 12005 – 12013 (# equal contributing first author).
N. Soetan, W. R. Erwin, A. Tonigan, G. Walker, and R. Bardhan*, “Solvent-assisted Self-assembly of CsPbBr3 Perovskite Nanocrystals into One-Dimensional Superlattice”, J. Phys. Chem. C., 2017, 121, 18186−18194.
H. F. Zarick, A. Boulesbaa, A. A. Puretzky, E. M. Talbert, Z. Debra, N. Soetan, D. B. Geohegan, and R. Bardhan*, “Ultrafast Carrier Dynamics in Bimetallic Nanostructures-Enhanced Methylammonium Lead Bromide Perovskites”, Nanoscale, 2017, 9, 1475-1483
H. F. Zarick, A. Boulesbaa, E. M. Talbert, A. Puretzky, D. Geohegan, and R. Bardhan*, “Ultrafast Excited-State Dynamics in Composition-Controlled Gold-Silver Bimetallic Nanostructures”, J. Phys. Chem. C, 2017, 121, 4540–4547.
W.R. Erwin and R. Bardhan*, “Directional Scattering and Sensing With Bimetallic Fanocubes – a Complex Fano Resonant Plasmonic Nanostructure”, J. Phys. Chem. C, 2016, 120, 9423–29431
W. R. Erwin, C. Hungerford, H. F. Zarick, E. M. Talbert, P. Arora, and R. Bardhan*, “Enhancement in Organic Photovoltaics Controlled by Interplay between Charge Transfer Excitons and Surface Plasmons, ACS Omega, 2016, 1, 722–729
E. M. Talbert, H. F. Zarick, N. J. Orfield, W. Li, W. R. Erwin, Z. R. DeBra, K. R. Reid, C. P. McDonald, J. R. McBride, J. Valentine, S. J. Rosenthal, and R. Bardhan*, “Interplay of Structural and Compositional Effects on Carrier Recombination in Mixed-Halide Perovskites”, RSC Advances, 2016, 6, 86947 – 86954
W. R. Erwin, H. F. Zarick, E. Talbert, R. Bardhan*, “Light Trapping in Mesoporous Solar Cells with Plasmonic Nanostructures,” Invited Review, Energy and Environmental Science, 2016, 9, 1577-1601
H. F. Zarick, W. R. Erwin, A. Boulesbaa, O. Hurd, J. A. Webb, A. Puretzky, D. Geohegan, R Bardhan*, “Improving Light Harvesting in Dye Sensitized Solar Cells using Hybrid Bimetallic Nanostructures”, ACS Photonics, 2016, 3, 385–394
A.P. Cohn#, W.R. Erwin#, K. Share, L. Oakes, A.S. Westover, R.E. Carter, R. Bardhan, and C.L. Pint, “All Silicon Electrode Photo-capacitor for Integrated Energy storage and Conversion,” Nano Letters, 2015, 15, 2727–2731 (# equal contributing first author).
H. F. Zarick, O. Hurd, J. A. Webb, C. Hungerford, W. R. Erwin, R. Bardhan*, “Enhanced Efficiency in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells with Shape-Controlled Plasmonic Nanostructures”ACS Photonics, 2014, 1, 806–811
W. R. Erwin, A. Coppola, H. F. Zarick, P. Arora, K. J. Miller, and R. Bardhan*, “Plasmon Enhanced Water Splitting Mediated by Hybrid Bimetallic Au-Ag Core-Shell Nanostructures”, Nanoscale, 2014, 6, 12626 – 12634
W. R. Erwin, L. Oakes, S. Chatterjee, H. F. Zarick, C. L. Pint*, and R. Bardhan*, “Engineered Porous Silicon Counter Electrodes for High Efficiency Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells,” ACS Appl. Mater. and Interfaces, 2014, 6, 9904–9910
H. F. Zarick, W. R. Erwin, J. Aufrecht, A. Coppola, B. R. Rogers, C. L. Pint, R. Bardhan*, “Morphological Modulation of Bimetallic Nanostructures for Accelerated Catalysis”, J. Materials Chemistry A, 2014, 2 (19), 7088 – 7098