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Results for “Optical Absorption”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 505 records · Page 28
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2016

Thickness dependent optical properties of PEMA and (PEMA){sub 0.85}/(ZnO){sub 0.15} nanocomposite films deposited by spray pyrolysis technique on ITO substrate

In this paper, poly (ethyl methacrylate) (PEMA) and (PEMA){sub 0.85}/(ZnO){sub 0.15} nanocomposite films for 2, 3, 4 and 5 minutes have been deposited by spray pyrolysis technique on indium tin oxide (ITO) coated substrate. The effect of thickness of the film on the morphological and optical properties of PEMA and (PEMA){sub 0.85}/(ZnO){sub 0.15} nanocomposite films are studied. The morphological and optical properties of pure PEMA and (PEMA){sub 0.85}/(ZnO){sub 0.15} nanocomposite films are compared. The field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) shows that as the thickness of film increases, uniformity of films increases. It is found from UV-Visible spectra that the energy band gap decreases with increasing the deposition time and refractive index increases with increasing the thickness of the film. The band gap of the nanocomposites is found less than the pure polymer film and opposite trend is observed for refractive index. The optical absorption of PEMA/ZnO nanocomposite films is higher than pure PEMA film. The thickness of the nanocomposite film plays a significant role in the tunability of the optical properties.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Efficient H{sub 2} production over Au/graphene/TiO{sub 2} induced by surface plasmon resonance of Au and band-gap excitation of TiO{sub 2}

Highlights: • Both surface plasmon resonance and band-gap excitation were used for H{sub 2} production. • Au/Gr/TiO{sub 2} composite photocatalyst was synthesized. • Au/Gr/TiO{sub 2} exhibited enhancement of light absorption and charge separation. • H{sub 2} production rate of Au/Gr/TiO{sub 2} was about 2 times as high as that of Au/TiO{sub 2}. - Abstract: H{sub 2} production over Au/Gr/TiO{sub 2} composite photocatalyst induced by surface plasmon resonance of Au and band-gap excitation of TiO{sub 2} using graphene (Gr) as an electron acceptor has been investigated. Electron paramagnetic resonance study indicated that, in this composite, Gr collected electrons not only from Au with surface plasmon resonance but also from TiO{sub 2} with band-gap excitation. Surface photovoltage and UV–vis absorption measurements revealed that compared with Au/TiO{sub 2}, Au/Gr/TiO{sub 2} displayed more effective photogenerated charge separation and higher optical absorption. Benefiting from these advantages, the H{sub 2} production rate of Au/Gr/TiO{sub 2} composite with Gr content of 1.0 wt% and Au content of 2.0 wt% was about 2 times as high as that of Au/TiO{sub 2}. This work represents an important step toward the efficient application of both surface plasmon resonance and band-gap excitation on the way to converting solar light into chemical energy.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

Structural- and optical-property characterization of three-dimensional branched ZnO nanospikes

Current study reports the synthesis of three-dimensional (3-D) ZnO nanospikes with anomalous optical property, where zinc stearate is adopted as a safe, common and low-cost precursor that undergoes thermal pyrolysis under non-hydrolytic approach. High resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) result show that the as-synthesized 3-D ZnO nanospikes are constructed by bundle of nanorods that sprout radially outwards in random orientation. The possible growth mechanism is discussed by referring to the microscopy results. X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern confirms that the nanospikes are highly crystalline, which existed in hexagonal wurtzite crystal structure. Optical absorption characterization shows that the onset absorption for the nanospikes is slightly red-shifted if compared to commercial ZnO and the corresponding bandgap energy is estimated to be 3.1 eV. The photoluminescene (PL) result of ZnO nanospikes indicate that its optical emission exhibits weak UV emission but very intense visible-light emission that ranged from green- up to red-region. The factors that contributed to the intriguing PL characteristic are discussed. Current finding would offer a versatile synthesis scheme in engineering advanced nanostructures with new design that exhibit congruent optical property. - Graphical abstract: Display Omitted - Highlights: • Pyrolysis of zinc stearate in synthesizing 3-D ZnO nanospikes • ZnO nanospikes possess bundle of nanorods that sprout out from the hexagonal stump • Growth mechanism is deduced to elucidate the morphological evolution from nanobullet to nanospike with branching topology • PL spectrum indicate that the nanospike exhibit prominent visible-light emission that ranged from green- to red-region.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2012

Real-structure effects: Band gaps of Mg_xZn_{1-x}O, Cd_xZn_{1-x}O, and n-type ZnO from ab-initio calculations

Many-body perturbation theory is applied to compute the quasiparticle electronic structures and the optical-absorption spectra (including excitonic effects) for several transparent conducting oxides. We discuss HSE+G{sub 0}W{sub 0} results for band structures, fundamental band gaps, and effective electron masses of MgO, ZnO, CdO, SnO{sub 2}, SnO, In{sub 2}O{sub 3}, and SiO{sub 2}. The Bethe-Salpeter equation is solved to account for excitonic effects in the calculation of the frequency-dependent absorption coefficients. We show that the HSE+G{sub 0}W{sub 0} approach and the solution of the Bethe-Salpeter equation are very well-suited to describe the electronic structure and the optical properties of various transparent conducting oxides in good agreement with experiment.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2024

Low‐Temperature Synthesis of Stable CaZn 2 P 2 Zintl Phosphide Thin Films as Candidate Top Absorbers

Abstract The development of tandem photovoltaics and photoelectrochemical solar cells requires new absorber materials with bandgaps in the range of ≈1.5–2.3 eV, for use in the top cell paired with a narrower‐gap bottom cell. An outstanding challenge is finding materials with suitable optoelectronic and defect properties, good operational stability, and synthesis conditions that preserve underlying device layers. This study demonstrates the Zintl phosphide compound CaZn 2 P 2 as a compelling candidate semiconductor for these applications. Phase‐pure, ≈500 nm‐thick CaZn 2 P 2 thin films are prepared using a scalable reactive sputter deposition process at growth temperatures as low as 100 °C, which is desirable for device integration. Ultraviolet‐visible spectroscopy shows that CaZn 2 P 2 films exhibit an optical absorptivity of ≈10 4 cm −1 at ≈1.95 eV direct bandgap. Room‐temperature photoluminescence (PL) measurements show near‐band‐edge optical emission, and time‐resolved microwave conductivity (TRMC) measurements indicate a photoexcited carrier lifetime of ≈30 ns. CaZn 2 P 2 is highly stable in both ambient conditions and moisture, as evidenced by PL and TRMC measurements. Experimental data are supported by first‐principles calculations, which indicate the absence of low‐formation‐energy, deep intrinsic defects. Overall, this study shall motivate future work integrating this potential top cell absorber material into tandem solar cells.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

Study of the physical properties of CuS thin films grown by SILAR method

CuS thin films were obtained using the SILAR method on an amorphous glass substrate. All experiments were performed at room temperature. CuS thin films were deposited at 30, 40, 50 and 60 cycles, respectively. Structural, morphological and optical properties of the structures that increase the thickness of nanostructured CuS thin films were investigated. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, RAMAN and optical absorption measurements were carried out in order to examine the physical properties of CuS thin films. As a result of the analysis, we can say that the thickness increase positively affects the crystal structure of CuS thin films. In addition, the energy bandgap range of CuS thin films ranged from 2.22 to 1.78 eV. Analysis results of CuS thin films using SILAR method show that thickness is an important factor for thin film studies.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Controlled synthesis and optical properties of tunable CdSe quantum dots and effect of pH

Cadmium selenide (CdSe) quantum dots (Q-dots) were prepared by using non-coordinating solvent octadecene instead of coordinating agent trioctylphosphine oxide (TOPO). Reaction processes were carried out at various temperatures of 240°, 260°, 280° and 300° C under nitrogen atmosphere. The prepared CdSe Q-dots which are highly stable show uniform size distribution and tunable optical absorption and photoluminescence (PL). The growth temperature significantly influenced the particle size; spectral behavior, energy band gap and PL intensity and the full width at half maxima (FWHM). Three different methods were employed to determine the particle size and the average particle size of the CdSe Q-dots is 3.2 - 4.3 nm, grown at different temperatures. In addition, stable and mono-dispersed water soluble CdSe Q-dots were prepared by the ligand exchange technique. Thus, the water soluble Q-dots, which are sensitive to the basic pH may be important for biological applications.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Cobalt as a promising dopant for producing semi-insulating β-Ga 2 O 3 crystals: Charge state transition levels from experiment and theory

Optical absorption and photoconductivity measurements of Co-doped β-Ga 2 O 3 crystals reveal the photon energies of optically excited charge transfer between the Co related deep levels and the conduction or valence band. The corresponding photoionization cross sections are fitted by a phenomenological model considering electron–phonon coupling. The obtained fitting parameters: thermal ionization (zero-phonon transition) energy, Franck–Condon shift, and effective phonon energy are compared with corresponding values predicted by first principle calculations based on density functional theory. A (+/0) donor level ~0.85 eV above the valence band maximum and a (0/-) acceptor level ~2.1 eV below the conduction band minimum are consistently derived. Temperature-dependent electrical resistivity measurement at elevated temperatures (up to 1000 K) yields a thermal activation energy of 2.1 ± 0.1 eV, consistent with the position of the Co acceptor level. Furthermore, the results show that Co doping is promising for producing semi-insulating β-Ga 2 O 3 crystals.

Materials science↗
DOE OSTI2026

Efficient simulation of optical spectra via machine learning and physical decomposition of environmental effects

Simulations of optical spectra can provide key insights to aid experimental interpretation of electronic excitation phenomena. For chromophores in the condensed phase, these spectra, which incorporate the coupling between electronic excitation and molecular and solvent nuclear motions, can be simulated using excitation energies obtained from molecular dynamics simulations of the chromophore and solvent. Here, we present a hybrid scheme that exploits machine learning and physically informed spectral densities to show that as few as 25 ground and excited state energetic gradient calculations can be used to construct models that accurately predict environment-influenced vibronic coupling in optical spectra. We demonstrate our approach for the green fluorescent protein chromophore in water and the cresyl violet chromophore in methanol. We show that our hybrid approach, employing a machine learning model for the high-frequency spectral density and an ab initio parameterized Debye spectral density for the low-frequency, results in a systematic improvement of the optical absorption lineshape, leading to a simple machine learning scheme that can be used for the simulation of spectral densities and optical spectra.

Snider, Andrew [Univ. of California, Merced, CA (U↗
DOE OSTI2011

Optical properties of nanostructured lead sulfide films with a D0{sub 3} cubic structure

The optical transmittance of nanostructured cubic PbS (lead sulfide) films with a D0{sub 3} structure is measured in the wavelength range 300 to 3200 nm. The film thicknesses are in the range {approx}120 to {approx}400 nm. Electron microscopy of the microstructure shows that about half of the films' particles are 60 nm or smaller in size. As the average particle size is decreased, the band gap E{sub g} increases from 0.85 to 1.5 eV, being noticeably larger than the band gap of coarse-grained PbS, 0.41 eV. This is indicative of a blue shift of the optical absorption band in nanostructured PbS films.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2017

Electroabsorption optical modulator

An electroabsorption modulator incorporates waveguiding regions along the length of the modulator that include quantum wells where at least two of the regions have quantum wells with different bandgaps. In one embodiment of the invention, the regions are arranged such that the quantum wells have bandgaps with decreasing bandgap energy along the length of the modulator from the modulator's input to its output. The bandgap energy of the quantum wells may be decreased in discrete steps or continuously. Advantageously, such an arrangement better distributes the optical absorption as well as the carrier density along the length of the modulator. Further advantageously, the modulator may handle increased optical power as compared with prior art modulators of similar dimensions, which allows for improved link gain when the optical modulator is used in an analog optical communication link.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2014

Dynamic optical properties in graphene: Length versus velocity gauge

The dynamic optical properties of graphene are theoretically investigated in both length gauge and velocity gauge in the presence of ultrafast optical radiation field. The two gauges present different results of dynamic photo-induced carriers and optical conductance due to distinct dependencies on electric field and non-resonant optical absorption, while the two gauges give identical results in the steady state time. It shows that the choice of gauge affects evidently the dynamic optical properties of graphene. The velocity gauge represents an outcome of a real physical experiment.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2024

Electrochemical and Optical Spectroscopic Probing of Transition–Sized Au 130 (SR) 50 Nanoclusters

Ultrasmall metal nanoclusters (NCs) exhibit a quantized conduction band, hence, a distinct HOMO-LUMO gap (E g ). Such a quantized electronic structure gives rise to multiple discrete peaks in the optical absorption spectrum of the NCs. As the size grows to 130 gold atoms (Au 130 protected by ligands), electrical charging and optical behaviors seem to show certain metal-like features (hence, transition-sizes). To probe such behaviors, especially the potential ligand effect, we have devised the synthesis of Au 130 NCs protected by phenylethanethiolate and naphthalenethiolate, respectively, with the former having a nonconjugated separation between the aromatic molecular group and the metal core while the latter being in direct bonding. A careful comparison of these two Au 130 nanoclusters with the earlier reported analogues is carried out, including the structurally characterized Au 130 (pMBT) 50 and the aqueous counterpart. While all of these nanoclusters possess the same 80 free electron counts in the core, some notable differences in electrochemical and optical properties are found, which are attributed to the ligand effects. The obtained insights may stimulate further interest in the transition-sized nanoclusters and also promote their applications in optics, energy conversion, and biomedicine.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2022

All-Carbon Nanotube Solar Cell Devices Mimic Photosynthesis

We report that both solar cells and photosynthetic systems employ a two-step process of light absorption and energy conversion. In photosynthesis, they are performed by distinct proteins. However, conventional solar cells use the same semiconductor for optical absorption and electron-hole separation, leading to inefficiencies. Here, we show that an all-semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotube (s-SWCNTs) device provides an artificial system that models photosynthesis in a tandem geometry. We use distinct chirality s-SWCNTs to separate the site and direction of light absorption from those of power generation. Using different bandgap s-SWCNTs, we implement an energy funnel in dual-gated p-n diodes. The device captures photons from multiple regions of the solar spectrum and funnels photogenerated excitons to the smallest bandgap s-SWCNT layer, where they become free carriers. We demonstrate an increase in the photoresponse by adding more s-SWCNT layers of different bandgaps without a corresponding deleterious increase in the dark leakage current.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Threefold reduction of modeled uncertainty in direct radiative effects over biomass burning regions by constraining absorbing aerosols

Absorbing aerosols emitted from biomass burning (BB) greatly affect the radiation balance, cloudiness, and circulation over tropical regions. Assessments of these impacts rely heavily on the modeled aerosol absorption from poorly constrained global models and thus exhibit large uncertainties. By combining the AeroCom model ensemble with satellite and in situ observations, we provide constraints on the aerosol absorption optical depth (AAOD) over the Amazon and Africa. Our approach enables identification of error contributions from emission, lifetime, and MAC (mass absorption coefficient) per model, with MAC and emission dominating the AAOD errors over Amazon and Africa, respectively. In addition to primary emissions, our analysis suggests substantial formation of secondary organic aerosols over the Amazon but not over Africa. Furthermore, we find that differences in direct aerosol radiative effects between models decrease by threefold over the BB source and outflow regions after correcting the identified errors. This highlights the potential to greatly reduce the uncertainty in the most uncertain radiative forcing agent.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Correlated Single-Crystal Electronic Absorption Spectroscopy and X-ray Crystallography at NSLS Beamline X26-C

The research philosophy and new capabilities installed at NSLS beamline X26-C to support electronic absorption and Raman spectroscopies coupled with X-ray diffraction are reviewed. This beamline is dedicated full time to multidisciplinary studies with goals that include revealing the relationship between the electronic and atomic structures in macromolecules. The beamline instrumentation has been fully integrated such that optical absorption spectra and X-ray diffraction images are interlaced. Therefore, optical changes induced by X-ray exposure can be correlated with X-ray diffraction data collection. The installation of Raman spectroscopy into the beamline is also briefly reviewed. Data are now routinely generated almost simultaneously from three complementary types of experiments from the same sample. The beamline is available now to the NSLS general user population.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Enhanced visible light activity of nano-titanium dioxide doped with multiple ions: Effect of crystal defects

Titanium dioxide photocatalysts co-doped with iron(III) and lanthanum(III) have been prepared through a modified sol-gel method. Doping with Fe{sup 3+} resulted in a relatively lower anatase to rutile phase transformation temperature, while La{sup 3+} addition reduced the crystal growth and thus retarded the phase transformation of titania nanoparticles. The presence of Fe{sup 3+} ions shifted the absorption profile of titania to the longer wavelength side of the spectrum and enhanced the visible light activity. On the other hand, La{sup 3+} addition improved the optical absorption of titania nanoparticles. Both the dopants improved the life time of excitons by proper transferring and trapping of photoexcited charges. In the present work, considerable enhancement in photocatalytic activity under visible light was achieved through synergistic effect of optimum concentrations of the two dopants and associated crystal defects. - Graphical abstract: Photocatalytic activity studies indicate a synergistic effect of dopants and crystal defects leading to an enhanced photochemical activity. Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer An aqueous sol-gel synthesis of Fe{sup 3+} and La{sup 3+} co-doped TiO{sub 2} is being reported. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Optical and microstructural properties of titania were modified by co-doping. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Enhanced activity of titania by the crystal defects is being reported.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗