Continuous-Flow Sunlight-Powered CO2 Methanation Catalyzed by y-AI2O3-Supported Plasmonic Ru Nanorods

Using Fiber Bragg Grating Sensors to Quantify Temperature Non-Uniformities in Plasmonic Catalyst Beds under Illumination

Distinguishing between photothermal and non-thermal contributions is essential in plasmon catalysis. Use of a tailored optical temperature sensor based on fiber Bragg gratings enabled us to obtain an accurate temperature map of an illuminated plasmonic catalyst bed with high spatiotemporal resolution. Its importance for quantification of the...

Machine learning based bias correction for numerical chemical transport models

Air quality warning and forecasting systems are usually based on numerical chemical transport models (CTMs). Those dynamic models perform predictions by simulating the life cycles of the atmospheric components, including emission, transport and removal. However, the accuracy of these CTMs are still limited because of many imperfections, e.g.,...

Low temperature sunlight‐powered reduction of CO2 to CO using a plasmonic Au/TiO2 nanocatalyst

Sunlight-powered reduction of CO2to fuels and chemicals is apromising strategy to close the carbon loop and facilitate theenergy transition. In this research, we demonstrate that Aunanoparticles supported on TiO2are an efficient plasmoniccatalyst for the sunlight-powered reverse water-gas shift (rWGS)reaction. A maximum CO production rate of429...

Collective photothermal effect of Al2O3-supported spheroidal plasmonic Ru nanoparticle catalysts in the sunlight-powered Sabatier reaction

Fast resist-activation dosimetry for extreme ultra-violet lithography

Due to the rather broad band emission spectrum of the extremely hot plasma in its extreme ultra-violet (EUV) source, an EUV lithography scanner also projects out-of-band vacuum- and deep-UV (OoB V/DUV) light on the photoresist on a wafer. As this type of uncontrolled and undesirable light can activate resist chemistry, it will impair the...

Fast resist-activation dosimetry for extreme ultra-violet lithography (EUVL)

Protecting patches in colloidal synthesis of Au semishells

Protecting groups are commonly applied in multi-step molecular syntheses to protect one or multiple functional groups from reacting. After the reaction, they are removed from the molecule. In full analogy to this concept, we report the practical and scalable colloidal synthesis of Au semishells using polyphenylsiloxane protecting patches to...

Spatial mode-selective waveguide with hyperbolic cladding

Hyperbolic metamaterials (HMMs) are anisotropic materials with a permittivity tensor that has both positive and negative eigenvalues. Here we report that by using a type II HMM as a cladding material, a waveguide that only supports higher-order modes can be achieved, while the lower-order modes become leaky and are absorbed in the HMM cladding....

The Influence of Particle Size Distribution and Shell Imperfections on the Plasmon Resonance of Au and Ag Nanoshells

Au and Ag nanoshells are of interest for a wide range of applications. The plasmon resonance of such nanoshells is the property of interest and can be tuned in a broad spectral regime, ranging from the ultraviolet to the mid-infrared. To date, a large number of manuscripts have been publishedontheopticsofsuchnanoshells.Fewofthese,however,...

A study on the optics of copper indium gallium (di)selenide (CIGS) solar cells with ultra-thin absorber layers

We present a systematic study of the effect of variation of the zinc oxide (ZnO) and copper indium gallium (di)selenide (CIGS) layer thickness on the absorption characteristics of CIGS solar cells using a simulation program based on finite element method (FEM). We show that the absorption in the CIGS layer does not decrease monotonically with...

Diffusers, properties and performance in BSDF

The "Bi-Directional Scattering Function" BSDF of a diffuser depends on several parameters, such as surface properties, observational conditions and further. This paper describes experimental activities to achieve a better understanding about the interaction between diffuser properties and performance with regards to its scattering behavior. For...

Improving the efficiency of copper indium gallium (Di-)selenide (CIGS) solar cells through integration of a moth-eye textured resist with a refractive index similar to aluminum doped zinc oxide

Textured transparent conductors are widely used in thin-film silicon solar cells. They lower the reflectivity at interfaces between different layers in the cell and/or cause an increase in the path length of photons in the Si absorber layer, which both result in an increase in the number of absorbed photons and, consequently, an increase in...

Diffuser properties and according performance in BSDF and spectral features in space application

The "Bi-Directional Scattering Function" BSDF of a diffuser depends on several parameters, such as surface properties, observational conditions and further. This paper describes experimental activities to achieve a better understanding about the interaction between diffuser properties and performance with regards to its scattering behavior. For...

Enhanced terahertz emission by coherent optical absorption in ultrathin semiconductor films on metals

We report on the surprisingly strong, broadband emission of coherent terahertz pulses from ultrathin layers of semiconductors such as amorphous silicon, germanium and polycrystalline cuprous oxide deposited on gold, upon illumination with femtosecond laser pulses. The strength of the emission is surprising because the materials are considered to...