Plasmonic Enhancement of Receiver Circuits for Energy Harvesting

Nanohmics and Professor Gennady Shvets at the University of Texas at Austin propose to develop a Multi-Spectral RectennaTM (MSR) composed of a large area flexible sheet of plasmonic absorber structures coupled to an advanced scintered nanoparticle diode junction material. The resulting film would generate rectified current vertically, from the plasmonic strips to the underlying mirror layer, enabling larger active area development, low-cost, truly scaleable fabrication, and high conversion efficiency. The plasmonic elements are fabricated using nanoimprint lithography and serve as active transducers for visible, near-IR and SWIR energy conversion via a novel field-enhanced charge accumulation pathway. The integrated devices interface directly to the underlying metal electrode. This method will enable high efficiency conversion in a large area, low-cost, scalable processing method.