Harnessing complex photonic systems for renewable energy

Abstract

The study of efficient mechanisms of photon conversion processes into electronic, thermal and chemical energy is an interdisciplinary research field spanning physics, chemistry and material science. In recent years, different physical mechanisms sustained by the engineering of diverse complex photonic structures have emerged to offer significant advances in the area of thermal energy generation, photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical energy transformation. The efficient behavior of these systems results from the integration, with different levels of complexity, of dielectric and metallic optical nanostructures into hierarchical disordered architectures, which have shown to significantly improve broadband light-harvesting, electronic charges extraction and light energy confinement. The review aims to concisely highlight the most recent progress in this field, with emphasis on discussing the physics and applications of complex lightwave systems for the realization of efficient processes of photon energy harvesting.