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Plasmonic Absorption Enhancement in a Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Using a Fourier Harmonics Grating

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Abstract

A solid-state dye-sensitized solar cell with back-contact Fourier harmonics (FH) grating was studied theoretically, using the rigorous coupled-wave analysis. The FH grating was found to provide enhanced absorptance and enable efficient multiple surface–plasmon–polariton (SPP) wave excitations. The incident plane wave was considered to be TM-polarized with oblique incidence. The FH gratings were designed to excite multiple SPP waves at desirable wavelengths by solving a canonical boundary value problem. The excitation of SPP waves is indicated by the presence of peaks in the absorptance plots. The FH grating enables light trapping corresponding to the wave vectors of the constituting simple gratings, which may be useful for chemical sensing and communication applications as well.

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  1. Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    Mahmoud R. M. Atalla

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  1. Mahmoud R. M. Atalla
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Correspondence to Mahmoud R. M. Atalla.

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Atalla, M.R.M. Plasmonic Absorption Enhancement in a Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Using a Fourier Harmonics Grating. Plasmonics 10, 151–156 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-014-9789-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-014-9789-x

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