Enhanced organic solar cell performance: Multiple surface plasmon resonance and incorporation of silver nanodisks into a grating‐structure electrode

In this study, plasmonic nanostructures were examined to enhance the light harvesting of organic thin-film solar cells (OSCs) by multiple surface plasmon resonance (SPR) phenomena originating from the grating-coupled configuration with a Blu-ray Disc recordable (BD-R)-imprinted aluminum (Al) grating structure and the incorporation of a series of silver nanodisks (Ag NDs). The devices with such a configuration maximize the light utilization inside OSCs via light absorption, light scattering, and trapping via multiple surface plasmon resonances. Different types and sizes of metallic nanoparticles (NPs), i.e., gold nanoparticles (Au NPs), Ag nanospheres (Ag NSs), and Ag NDs, were used, which were blended separately in a PEDOT:PSS hole transport layer (HTL). The device structure comprised of grating- imprinted-Al/P3HT:PCBM/Ag ND:PEDOT:PSS/ITO. Results obtained from the J–V curves revealed that the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of grating-structured Al/P3HT:PCBM/PEDOT:PSS/ITO is 3.16%;this value is ~6% higher than that of a flat substrate. On the other hand, devices with flat Al and incorporated Au NPs, Ag NSs, or Ag NDs in the HTL exhibited PCEs ranging from 3.15% to 3.37%. Furthermore, OSCs with an Al grating substrate were developed by the incorporation of the Ag ND series into the PEDOT:PSS layer. Compared with that of a reference device, the PCEs of the devices increased to 3.32%–3.59%(11%–20% improvement), indicating that the light absorption enhancement at the active layer corresponds to the grating-coupled surface plasmon resonance and localized surface plasmon resonance excitations with strong near-field distributions penetrating into the active layer leading to higher efficiencies and subsequent better current generation.

Strong near-field couplings of anapole modes and formation of higher-order electromagnetic modes in stacked all-dielectric nanodisks

We theoretically study the near-field couplings of two stacked all-dielectric nanodisks,where each disk has an electric anapole mode consisting of an electric dipole mode and an electric toroidal dipole(ETD)mode.Strong bonding and anti-bonding hybridizations of the ETD modes of the two disks occur.The bonding hybridized ETD can interfere with the dimer’s electric dipole mode and induce a new electric anapole mode.The anti-bonding hybridization of the ETD modes can induce a magnetic toroidal dipole(MTD)response in the disk dimer.The MTD and magnetic dipole resonances of the dimer form a magnetic anapole mode.Thus,two dips associated with the hybridized modes appear on the scattering spectrum of the dimer.Furthermore,the MTD mode is also accompanied by an electric toroidal quadrupole mode.The hybridizations of the ETD and the induced higher-order modes can be adjusted by varying the geometries of the disks.The strong anapole mode couplings and the corresponding rich higher-order mode responses in simple all-dielectric nanostructures can provide new opportunities for nanoscale optical manipulations.

Preparation of α-Fe_2O_3 Nanodisks by Blocking the Growth of (001) Plane

Based on the difference of hydroxy group configuration on the special adsorption and coordination of phosphate on the dispersed α-Fe2O3 nanodisks with diameter of 150-200 nm different planes of α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles, using （001） plane of α-Fe2O3, well-crystallized and well and thickness of 40-80 nm were synthesized via a hydrotherrnal method. The magnetic properties of synthesized nanodisks were investigated. It was found that the nanodisks possessed a saturation magnetization （Ms） of 0.38 emu/g, a rernanent magnetization （Mr） of 0.031 ernu/g and a coercivity of 452.91 Oe at room temperature. The Mr and coercivity of synthesized α-Fe2O3 nanodisks are higher and the Ms is lower than those of other previously reported α-Fe2O3 nanostructures.

Bidirectional visible light absorber based on nanodisk arrays

A perfect bidirectional broadband visible light absorber composed of titanium nitride and tungsten nanodisk arrays is proposed.The average absorption of the absorber exceeds 89%at 400 nm–800 nm when light is normally incident on the front-side.Illumination from the opposite direction(back-side)results in absorption of more than 75%.Through the theoretical analysis of the electric and magnetic fields,the physical mechanism of the broadband perfect absorption is attributed to the synergy of localized surface plasmons,propagating surface plasmons,and plasmonic resonant cavity modes.Furthermore,the absorber also exhibits excellent polarization-independence performance and a high angular tolerance of~30°for both front-and back-side incidence.The designed bidirectional broadband visible light absorber here has wide application prospects in the fields of solar cells and ink-free printing.

Optical Absorption Enhancement Effects of Silver Nanodisk Arrays in the Application of Silicon Solar Cell

Surface plasmon resonance of noble metal nanoparticles leads to the optical absorption enhancement effects,which have great potential applications in solar cell.By using the general numerical method of discrete dipole approximation （DDA）,we study the absorption and scattering properties of two-dimensional square silver nanodisks （2D SSN） arrays on the single crystal silicon solar cell.Based on the effective reflective index model of the single crystal silicon solar cell,we investigate the optical enhancement absorption of light energy by varying the light incident direction,particle size,aspect ratio,and interparticle spacing of the silver nanodisks.The peak values and position of the optical extinction spectra of the 2D square arrays of noble metal nanodisks are obtained with the different array structures.

The application of open disk-like structures as model membrane and drug carriers

The objective of this review is to outline the application of bicelles(or called bilayer micelles)and bilayer nanodisks in pharmaceutics,pharmaceutical analysis and biochemistry.The application of open disk-like structures as model membrane and drug carrier has been described.The exploration of many reports in different fields suggested that these open disk-like structures have great potential in studying interactions between drug-membrane and structure/function studies of membrane-bound proteins.Furthermore,they could be applied as promising carriers for in vivo delivery of drugs,protein and peptide.

Comparison of Surface-enhanced Raman Scattering Spectra of Two Kinds of Silver Nanoplate Films

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering（SERS） spectra of different silver nanoplate selt-assembled tllmS at different excitation wavelengths were fairly compared. Shape conversion from silver nanoprisms to nanodisks on slides was in situ carried out. The SERS spectra of 4-mercaptopyridine（4-MPY） on these anisotropic silver nanopar- ticle self-assembled films present that strong enhancement appeared when the excitation line and the surface plasmon resonance（SPR） band of silver substrate overlapped. In this model, the influence of the crystal planes of silver na- noplates on SERS enhancement could be ignored because the basal planes were nearly unchanged in two kinds of silver nanoplate self-assembled films.

A High-Sensitivity Refractive-Index Sensor Based on Plasmonic Waveguides Asymmetrically Coupled with a Nanodisk Resonator

A high-sensitivity plasmonic refractive-index sensor based on the asymmetrical coupling of two metal-insulator- metal waveguides with a nanodisk resonator is proposed and simulated in the finite-difference time domain. Both analytic and simulated results show that the resonance wavelengths of the sensor have an approximate linear relationship with the refractive index of the materials which are filled into the slit waveguides and the disk- shaped resonator. The working mechanism of this sensor is exactly due to the linear relationship, based on which tile refractive index of the materials unknown can be obtained from the detection of the resonance wavelength. The measurement sensitivity can reach as high as 6.45 × 10-7, which is nearly five times higher than the results reported in the recent literature [Opt. Commun. 300 （2013） 265]. With an optimum design, the sensing value can be further improved, and it can be widely applied into the biological sensing. Tile sensor working for temperature sensing is also analyzed.

Active tuning of Si metasurface with large area

All-dielectric metasurfaces are usually limited because of their static functionality and small scale.In this paper,we use an easy nanofabrication technique to fabricate all-dielectric metasurfaces with the advantages of having dynamic tunability and a large area.Using an anodized aluminum oxide(AAO)template as an evaporation mask,a large-area metasurface embedded in polydimethylsiloxane(PDMS)(>2 cm^(2))is fabricated.The metasurface exhibits remarkable electric dipole(ED)and magnetic dipole(MD)resonances.Based on the solvent-swelling effect of PDMS in 20%toluene,the ED/MD resonance peak shifts dynamically∼40 nm to red.So far,to the best of our knowledge,a large-area metasurface embedded in PDMS and achieved by using the AAO template method has not appeared.

Novel fibronectin-targeted nanodisk drug delivery system displayed superior efficacy against prostate cancer compared with nanospheres

Currently,prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in males and chemotherapy is often essential for treating advaneed prostate cancer.However,common chemotherapies for prostate cancer suffer from serious adverse effects due to poor drug targeting ability and tissue penetration,even with the help of conventional drug delivery systems.Here,encouraged by recent studies showing possible drug retention and tissue pen etration advan tages of unconventional non-spherical nan oparticles over conventional spherical nan oparticles,we design and construct a novel non-spherical nano disk drug delivery system for treating prostate cancer.norder to enhance tumor-targeting capability,these nanodisks are further modified with targeting peptide,Cys-Arg-Glu丄ys?Ala peptide with N-methylated Glu(CR(NMe)EKA),which recognizes extracellular matrix fibronectin and its complexes specifically expressed on the walls of tumor vessels and in tumor stroma.Compared with conventional nano spheres,the nano disks achieve much higher drug accumulati on at prostate tumor sites.When loaded with paclitaxel,the CR(NMe)EKA-modified nan odisks display superior an titumor efficacy to free paclitaxel,unmodified nan odisks and nano spheres.In summary,our study provides an attractive therapeutic strategy for targeted therapy against prostate cancer with simple preparation,high efficiency and low toxicity,and supplements a theoretical support for treatments realized by different shaped nano platforms.Our study also offers valuable data for understa nding biological effects of non-spherical nano disks and highlights the great pote ntial of unconventional nan oparticles in biomedical applicati ons.

Co-delivery of TRAIL and paclitaxel by fibronectin-targeting liposomal nanodisk for effective lung melanoma metastasis treatment

Melanoma is a highly aggressive cancer which often forms metastatic tumors in the lung,leading to sharply reduced patients'survival rate.Effectively treating these tumors thus could improve late stage melanoma with lung metastasis.In this study,we fabricated a Cys-Arg-Glu-Lys-Ala with N-methylated Glu(CR(NMe)EKA)decorated disk shaped nano vehicle to co-deliver tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand(TRAIL)and paclitaxel(PTX)to lung melanoma tumor sites(TRAIL-[ND-PTX]^(CR(NMe)EKA)).These nanodisks displayed better tumor-targeting and penetration capability than spherical nanoparticles,while the fibronectin-targeting CR(NMe)EKA motif also increased the tumor accumulation of loaded drugs.The combined usage of TRAIL and PTX both killed tumor cells and reduced local nutrition supply,leading to stronger overall anti-tumor effect.This TRAIL-[ND-PTX]^(CR(NMe)EKA)system performed remarkably better than free paclitaxel and also significantly elongated survival rate of melanoma lung metastasis bearing mice,without displaying significant toxicity.Hence,this designing strategy and the fabricated nanoplatform possess potential for further development.

Broadband transverse displacement sensing of silicon hollow nanodisk under focused radial polarization illumination in the near-infrared region

Broadband transverse displacement sensing by exploiting the interaction of a focused radially polarized beam with a silicon hollow nanodisk is proposed.The multipolar decomposition analysis indicates that the interference between a longitudinal total electric dipole(TED)moment and a lateral magnetic dipole(MD)moment is dominant in the far-field transverse scattering in the near-infrared region.Within a broadband wavelength range with the width of 155 nm,the longitudinal TED is almost in phase with the lateral MD,and then broadband position sensing based on the sensitivity of scattering directivity to transverse displacement can be achieved.

Controllable synthesis of nanorod/nanodisk TiO_2 from titanium-containing electric furnace molten slag

Nanostructured TiO2 with different morphologies and crystal phases was successfully synthesized from titanium-containing electric furnace molten slag by using a hydrothermal method followed by reflux process in acid solution. The effects of acid concentration, reflux time, and acid type on the formation of TiO2 were systematically investigated by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray dif- fraction （XRD）, transmission electron microscopy （TEM）, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy （HRTEM）, and X-ray fluorescence （XRF）. It is indicated that TiO2 nanorod with rutile phase is achieved in nitric or hydrochloric acid, while anatase TiO2 nanodisk is formed in sulfuric acid. With the increase of the concentration of hydrochloric acid from 0.3 to 1.5 mol-L-1, the dispersibility and crystallinity of the final product can be improved. With prolonging the reflux time from 6 to 14 h, the rutile TiO2 nanorod with uniform crystal size and high crystallinity is obtained. The growth mechanism of TiO2 nanorod and nanodisk prepared under different conditions was also discussed.

Fano resonances in complex plasmonic super-nanoclusters： The effect of environmental modifications on the LSPR sensitivity

In this study, gold nanodisk clusters in heptamer orientations as clusters were used to design a super-heptamer consisting of one central and six peripheral heptamers. We examined the position and movement of the plasmon and Fano resonances by sketching the spectral response of the superstructure for various nanodisk dimensions. The quality of the interference between the superradiant and subradiant plasmon resonance modes of the nanodisk clusters was found to depend strongly on the structural configuration and the refractive index of the environmental medium. We replaced the central heptamer with a nanodisk and probed the position of the Fano resonance by geometrically altering the nanodisk structure. Finally, the effect of the dielectric environment on the plasruon re- sponse of both of the studied structures was examined numerically and theoretically. The localized surface plasmon resonance sensitivity of the finite plasmonic structures to the presence of liquid substances was investigated and shown by plotting the linear figure of merit. The finite-difference time-domain method was used as a numerical tool to investigate the plasmon response of the structure.