Enabling selective absorption in perovskite solar cells for refractometric sensing of gases

Abstract

Summarizing the finding of this paper, we are proposing a refractometric sensor that modifies a perovskite solar cell. This modification takes the form of a subwavelength metallic grating acting as the front contact of the cell. All the system (light source, sensor, and acquisition electronics) can be packed together within a tiny volume allowing miniaturization. The detection uses the electric signal delivered by the cell. This approach does not require any goniometer or spectrometer, making the device easier to operate. When considering a modified figure of merit, ⁎ FOM , to describe the behavior of the device, the reported values are very competitive with existing technologies.

Optoelectronic refractometric sensing device for gases based on dielectric bow-ties and amorphous silicon solar cells

“…The sensing performance of a refractometric sensor is evaluated through the sensitivity, , and the FOM 18 for the geometrical parameters and material choice already discussed previously at wavelength of nm, which is a constant in our design.…”

“…The extracted current from the device is directly proportional to the absorption in the active layer of the device. Finally, we weight this current to the incident optical power to obtain the responsivity 18 . The modeling domain is a small unit cell or the building block of a large array, which is repeated transversely by applying periodic boundary conditions.…”

“…Due to their narrow selective response, opto-electronic devices based on surface plasmon resonances (SPR) are one of the solutions for environmental monitoring and sensing 18 , 19 . This technology can be applied to gas sensing 20 , refractive index sensing 21 – 24 , and chemical sensing 25 .…”

A review on the sensing mechanisms and recent developments on metal halide-based perovskite gas sensors

“…Metal halide perovskite nanocrystals and single crystals have been demonstrated to act as optical O 2 sensors based on the change in their PL intensity and lifetime upon exposure to the gas. [173][174][175] The physisorption of the gas molecules could extensively control the surface trap state density in the case of MAPbBr 3 single crystals, resulting in a variation in the PL intensity by twice that of the initial intensity. 164 Mn II -Doped CsPbCl 3 nanocrystals displayed PL quenching by 53% and degradation in lifetime upon exposure to 0-100% O 2 (Fig.…”

“…158 The performance of gas sensors based on different metal halide perovskites is summarized in Table 1. 14,33,36,37,142,143,149,151,158–208…”