%0 Journal Article %T Sandwich-structured TiO 2 inverse opal circulates slow photons for tremendous improvement in solar energy conversion efficiency %+ Griffith University [Brisbane] %+ Institut des Sciences Chimiques de Rennes (ISCR) %+ Fudan University [Shanghai] %A Eftekhari, Ehsan %A Broisson, Pierre %A Aravindakshan, Nikhil %A Wu, Zhiqing %A Cole, Ivan, S %A Li, Xiaomin %A Zhao, Dongyuan %A Li, Qin %Z The authors acknowledge the support from the Australia Research Council (ARC) under the Project DP160104089, and appreciate the access to the electron microscopes at the Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis at the University of Queensland. %< avec comité de lecture %@ 2050-7488 %J Journal of Materials Chemistry A %I Royal Society of Chemistry %V 5 %N 25 %P 12803-12810 %8 2017 %D 2017 %R 10.1039/C7TA01703K %Z Chemical Sciences/Material chemistry %Z Engineering Sciences [physics]/Optics / PhotonicJournal articles %X Photon management has enabled a true revolution in the development of high‐performance semiconductor materials and devices. Harnessing the highest amount of energy from photon relies on an ability to design and fashion structures to trap the light for the longer time inside the device for more electron excitation. The light harvesting efficiency in many thin‐film optoelectronic devices is limited due to low photon absorbance. Here we demonstrate for the first time that slow photon circulation in sandwich‐structured photonic crystals with two stopbands fine tuned are ideally suited to enhance and spectrally engineer light absorption. The sandwich‐structured TiO 2 inverse opal possesses two stopbands, whose blue or red edge is respectively tuned to overlap with TiO 2 electronic excitation energy, thereby circulating the slow photons in the middle layer and enhancing light scattering at layer interfaces. This concept, together with the significantly increased control over photon management opens up tremendous opportunities for the realization of a wide range of high‐ performance, optoelectronic devices, and photochemical reactions. %G English %2 https://univ-rennes.hal.science/hal-01624558/document %2 https://univ-rennes.hal.science/hal-01624558/file/Eftekhari%20-%20Sandwich-structured%20TiO2%20inverse%20opal-Revised%2020th%20March%202017.pdf %L hal-01624558 %U https://univ-rennes.hal.science/hal-01624558 %~ UNIV-RENNES1 %~ CNRS %~ INSA-RENNES %~ ENSC-RENNES %~ ISCR %~ STATS-UR1 %~ UR1-SPM %~ INC-CNRS %~ UR1-UFR-SPM %~ UR1-HAL %~ UR1-SDLM %~ TEST-UNIV-RENNES %~ TEST-UR-CSS %~ UNIV-RENNES %~ INSA-GROUPE %~ TEST-HALCNRS %~ UR1-MMS %~ TEST2-HALCNRS