Photosynthesis is nature's route to convert intermittent solar irradiation into storable energy, while its use for an industrial energy supply is impaired by low efficiency. Artificial photosynthesis provides a promising alternative for efficient robust carbon-neutral renewable energy generation. The approach of direct hydrogen generation by photoelectrochemical water splitting utilizes customi...

We propose and numerically investigate a novel perfect ultra-narrow band absorber based on a metal-dielectric-metal-dielectric-metal periodic structure working at near-infrared region, which consists of a dielectric layer sandwiched by a metallic nanobar array and a thin gold film over a dielectric layer supported by a metallic film. The absorption efficiency and ultra-narrow band of the absorb...

The high optical gain and absorption of organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites have attracted attention for photonic device applications. However, owing to the sensitivity of organic moieties to solvents and temperature, device processing is challenging, particularly for patterning. Here, we report the direct patterning of perovskites using chemically gas-assisted focused-ion beam (GAFIB) etching...

Here, we show that solution-processed Cu-Sn-S semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) demonstrate a tunable localized surface plasmon resonance band in the near infrared region, where strong saturable absorption occurs. A saturable absorber based on these plasmonic NCs enables the construction of a stable mode-locked femtosecond fiber laser operating at the telecommunication band.

Current solar to thermal energy conversion technologies, including concentrated solar power (CSP) and solar water heaters (SWH) utilize absorber surfaces that collect incident solar radiation. However, these absorber surfaces emit thermal energy (at their temperature) in the infrared (IR) spectrum, resulting in decreased overall efficiency for solar-to-thermal conversion. Selective absorber sur...

Bicycle configuration is not as large as those of motorcycles or automobiles, while it indeed composes a complicated dynamic system. People’s requirements on comfortability, controllability and safety grow higher as the research and development technologies improve. The shock absorber affects the vehicle suspension performances enormously. The absorber takes the vibration energy and releases it...

One varactor-tunable High Impedance Surface (HIS) is proposed and used in design of an active metamaterial absorber. The proposed HIS structure is based on mushroom-type HIS, in which varactors are introduced to adjust the effective capacitance and tune the resonance frequency. The primary ground plane is etched as the bias network for these loaded varactors, and another ultra-thin grounded she...