Transflective Mesoscopic Nanoparticles Synthesized in the Leidenfrost Droplet as Black Absorbers

Abstract

Here, a new class of transflective oxide metaparticles that are able to capture solar radiation in a selective manner based on their size and morphology is demonstrated. The metaparticles possess an electronic polarization response “polarizonics” and show a specular reflective color at the visible frequencies. As a specific highlight, a resonating ultrathin reflective while transparent metacomposite, i.e., a transflective coating is designed. Further, a perfect solar absorber is devised whose function is morphology controlled and supplemented by the transflective coating via the selective interference concept. The multidisciplinary approach presented here enables design of materials with customized functionalities, bridging the sustainable nanochemistry to nanoengineering and proposes a new way for solving challenges in energy and solar harvesting.

Solar Aluminum Kitchen Foils with Omnidirectional Vivid Polarizonic Colors

“…It has been thought that the shiny and vivid colors are solely achievable by the optically symmetric and periodically structured materials, which is “not quite right,” based on our recent progresses in the field. Several disordered structures consisting of nanoparticles and molecules that are able to show coherent and cooperative specular reflection “polarizonic” responses have been recently introduced by us and implemented for creation of vivid colors. Despite various merits with respect to structural polarizonic coloration, this mode of specular reflected color is angular and polarization dependent thus inefficient for different applications such as optical measurement systems, colored display devices, and solar absorbers.…”

Reflective Coloration from Structural Plasmonic to Disordered Polarizonic

“…In contrast to the localized plasmon that is characterized by absorption and scattering of an oscillated dipole, which is an intrinsic property and does not consider the cooperative action of all matter (e.g., near‐field response, hotspot generation), polarizonics is an exceptional field that emerges from the cooperative and coherent interactions and interference of oscillating bounded dipoles of polarized materials. Elbahri's group has verified this hypothesis [ 31,36,37,39,40 ] both theoretically and experimentally and shown that a sheet of oscillated dipoles, “nanoparticles, atoms, or molecules,” behaves as a deterministic chaotic system that creates a macroscopic coherent response by the cooperative interference of the eigenvibrations. Thus, these random dipoles act as “artificial galaxies” with specular reflection in the Z direction, as observed on smooth conductor surfaces, but not yet reported for disordered ultrafine particles.…”

“…Recently, we challenged this general knowledge and provided a novel understanding by exploring polarizonic resonance with the specular reflectionbased colors of disordered plasmonic nanoclusters and nanocomposites, and artificial plasmonic molecules among other radiating dipoles. [31,[36][37][38][39][40] Indeed, the polarizonic colors emerging from such glassy and amorphous nanostructures could be of paramount technological importance for energy harvesting, biodetection, and aesthetics.…”

“…This picture is valid for any oscillated dipole, including metals [38] and dielectrics. [37,39] When an atom, molecule, cluster, or small nanoparticle whose size is much smaller than the wavelength (λ/d < 0.1) is exposed to EM radiation, the field distribution across the entire object is considered homogenous according to the quasistatic approximation proposed by Lord Rayleigh. [95] In contrast, when a set of dipoles with close spacing is exposed to an external field at their resonance frequency, an enhancement of the response of a system occurs and the electronic clouds behave cooperatively.…”