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Projects: Projects for Investigator
Reference Number EP/H046887/1
Title Materials World Network: Nano-structured materials from nanoparticle- and block copolymer assemblies for nanophotonics and optoelectronics
Status Completed
Energy Categories Renewable Energy Sources(Solar Energy, Photovoltaics) 50%;
Not Energy Related 50%;
Research Types Basic and strategic applied research 100%
Science and Technology Fields PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Physics) 100%
UKERC Cross Cutting Characterisation Not Cross-cutting 100%
Principal Investigator Professor SA Maier
No email address given
Department of Physics (the Blackett Laboratory)
Imperial College London
Award Type Standard
Funding Source EPSRC
Start Date 01 October 2010
End Date 31 March 2014
Duration 42 months
Total Grant Value £530,211
Industrial Sectors No relevance to Underpinning Sectors
Region London
Programme NC : Physical Sciences
 
Investigators Principal Investigator Professor SA Maier , Department of Physics (the Blackett Laboratory), Imperial College London (99.999%)
  Other Investigator Dr hjs Snaith , Oxford Physics, University of Oxford (0.001%)
  Industrial Collaborator Project Contact , Cornell University, USA (0.000%)
Web Site
Objectives
Abstract Here we propose to investigate the synthesis and characterization of novel classes of metal-based nano-structuredparticles and composites with well-defined geometry and connectivity. The materials are obtained by a modular bottom-upapproach of metal-containing nanoparticles (NPs) with core-shell architecture as well as nanocomposites from metal NPsand block copolymers (BCs) as structure-directed agents. The aim of the proposed program is to understand theunderlying fundamental chemical, thermodynamic and kinetic formation principles enabling general and relativelyinexpensive wet-chemistry methodologies for the efficient creation of multiscale functional metal materials with noveloptical property profiles that may revolutionize the field of nanophotonics/plasmonics/ metamaterials, enabled by nmscalecontrol over the underlying structure over large dimensions. The proposed research includes synthesis of allnecessary organic/polymer and inorganic components, characterization of assembly structures using various scattering,optical and electron microscopy techniques, as well as thorough investigations of their optical properties includingsimulation and modeling efforts, and work towards major novel optics in the form of sub-wavelength imaging, highlysensitive hot-spot arrays over macroscopic dimensions for sensing, and sub-wavelength waveguiding. While the mainfocus of our proposed work lies on non-magnetic materials and the assessment of linear optical properties of thefabricated compounds, a crucial point is that we are aiming at synthesis approaches that can be generalized over a widerclass of materials systems. A final thrust of the program addresses a particularly topical exploitation area, where we willintegrate specific plasmonic structures into hybrid solar cells and characterize and optimize plasmon enhancedphotogeneration of charges and subsequent solar cell efficiency. If successful this will lead to a new generation, or classof photovolatics, namely plasmonic solar cells
Publications (none)
Final Report (none)
Added to Database 12/08/10