Efficient metal concave bow tie rectifying antenna for solar energy collection

Theoretical photoelectric conversion efficiency is higher in energy conversion using nano-rectifying antennas compared to traditional photovoltaic cell conversion technology. This paper presents the design of a wide-band metal rectifying antenna based on a concave bow tie structure to achieve efficient and wide-band solar energy collection. Firstly, the concave bow tie nanoantenna’s structure is designed using the finite difference time domain method. The optimization of the antenna structure considers the influence of parameters such as antenna gap, concave corner radius, thickness, and substrate thickness on absorption efficiency. The resulting absorption efficiency is 94.6% within the wavelength range of 400 nm–1600 nm. Subsequently, the design, preparation, and experiment of the metal–insulator-insulator–metal (Ag-Al2O3−HfO2−Au) rectification based on Ag particle antenna are carried out, and a rectification system test platform is established. The correctness of the proposed transfer matrix method tunneling model and rectification antenna design approach in this paper is verified, yielding a photoelectric conversion efficiency of 5.14 × 10−9.