Ultrabroadband light absorbing Fe/polymer flexible metamaterial for soft opto-mechanical devices

Ultrabroadband light absorbers are attracting increasing interest for applications in energy harvesting, photodetection, self-regulated devices or soft robotics. However, current absorbers show detrimental insufficient absorption spectral range, or light angle and polarization dependence. Here we sh...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Güell Grau, Pau|||0000-0002-2363-4079, Pi, F.|||0000-0001-7347-4897, Villa, Rosa|||0000-0003-2735-3204, Nogués, Josep|||0000-0003-4616-1371, Alvarez, Mar|||0000-0003-4590-4401, Sepúlveda, Borja|||0000-0002-1562-7602
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Institución:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:268428
Acceso en línea:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/268428
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.1016/j.apmt.2021.101052
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Ultrabroadband absorption
Soft metamaterials
Highly-damped plasmonics
Iron nanostructures
Optomechanical devices
Descripción
Sumario:Ultrabroadband light absorbers are attracting increasing interest for applications in energy harvesting, photodetection, self-regulated devices or soft robotics. However, current absorbers show detrimental insufficient absorption spectral range, or light angle and polarization dependence. Here we show that the unexplored optical properties of highly-damped plasmonic materials combined with the infrared absorption of thin polymer films enable developing ultrabroadband light-absorbing soft metamaterials. The developed metamaterial, composed of a nanostructured Fe layer mechanically coupled to a thin polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) film, shows unprecedented ultrabroadband and angle-independent optical absorption (averaging 84% within 300-18000 nm). The excellent photothermal efficiency and large thermal-expansion mismatch of the metamaterial is efficiently transformed into large mechanical deflections, which we exploit to show an artificial iris that self-regulates the transmitted light power from the ultraviolet to the long-wave infrared, an untethered light-controlled mechanical gripper and a light-triggered electrical switch.