2D_PHOT | Two Dimensional Materials for Photonic Devices

Summary
The need for inexpensive yet highly efficient photodetectors and solar cells is driving the search for a new generation of semiconductors that have high absorbance in the visible, broad wavelength operation range, are transparent and flexible albeit with strong light-matter interaction, and are easy to process. Manufacturing these optoelectronic devices at a large scale involves concerns at technological, economical, ecological, social and political levels. Ideally, the new materials are abundant, easily processed and feature long term stability and non-toxicity. The advent of 2D transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs). e.g., MoS2 and WS2, has generated great expectations since these materials fulfill all these requirements. 2D-TMDCs exhibit direct band gaps, high absorption coefficients, and high carrier mobility values, making them promising candidates for optoelectronic applications. The out-of-plane quantum confinement responsible for the direct bandgap in the monolayer, also allows for the modulation of the bandgap as a function of the number of layers. However, for photovoltaics (PV), even if transparency is an important attribute in some niche markets, e.g. building-integrated PV, thickness-limited absorption poses a challenge in general. To overcome this issue, we propose a photonic nanostructuration to maximize light harvesting in these devices. We will combine strong interference effects based in the small penetration in a metallic substrate and the light trapping due to the nanostructuration by lithography of TMDCs over a metallic substrate. Resonators with high-quality factors will have potential applications in light harvesting devices, such as photodetectors, but also in solar cells. We will design and fabricate such an efficient photodetector, and also a solar cell incorporating the photonic design, and demonstrate enhanced performance in a metal back reflector/TMDC/graphene device.
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More information & hyperlinks
Web resources: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/840064
Start date: 16-03-2020
End date: 15-03-2022
Total budget - Public funding: 159 815,04 Euro - 159 815,00 Euro
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Original description

The need for inexpensive yet highly efficient photodetectors and solar cells is driving the search for a new generation of semiconductors that have high absorbance in the visible, broad wavelength operation range, are transparent and flexible albeit with strong light-matter interaction, and are easy to process. Manufacturing these optoelectronic devices at a large scale involves concerns at technological, economical, ecological, social and political levels. Ideally, the new materials are abundant, easily processed and feature long term stability and non-toxicity. The advent of 2D transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs). e.g., MoS2 and WS2, has generated great expectations since these materials fulfill all these requirements. 2D-TMDCs exhibit direct band gaps, high absorption coefficients, and high carrier mobility values, making them promising candidates for optoelectronic applications. The out-of-plane quantum confinement responsible for the direct bandgap in the monolayer, also allows for the modulation of the bandgap as a function of the number of layers. However, for photovoltaics (PV), even if transparency is an important attribute in some niche markets, e.g. building-integrated PV, thickness-limited absorption poses a challenge in general. To overcome this issue, we propose a photonic nanostructuration to maximize light harvesting in these devices. We will combine strong interference effects based in the small penetration in a metallic substrate and the light trapping due to the nanostructuration by lithography of TMDCs over a metallic substrate. Resonators with high-quality factors will have potential applications in light harvesting devices, such as photodetectors, but also in solar cells. We will design and fabricate such an efficient photodetector, and also a solar cell incorporating the photonic design, and demonstrate enhanced performance in a metal back reflector/TMDC/graphene device.

Status

TERMINATED

Call topic

MSCA-IF-2018

Update Date

28-04-2024
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Horizon 2020
H2020-EU.1. EXCELLENT SCIENCE
H2020-EU.1.3. EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
H2020-EU.1.3.2. Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
H2020-MSCA-IF-2018
MSCA-IF-2018