0000000000013884
AUTHOR
Francesco Priolo
showing 17 related works from this author
Colloidal Self-assembled Nanosphere Arrays for Plasmon-enhanced Light Trapping in Thin Film Silicon Solar Cells
2014
To realize high-efficiency thin-film silicon solar cells it is crucial to develop light-trapping methods that can increase absorption of the near- bandgap light in the silicon material. That can be achieved using the far-field scattering properties of metal nanoparticles (MNP) sustaining surface plasmons. The MNPs should be inserted in the back of the cell, embedded in the transparent conductive oxide (TCO) layer which separates the rear mirror from the silicon layers. In this way, a plasmonic back reflector (PBR) is constructed that can redirect light at angles away from the incidence direction and thereby increase its path length in the cell material. In this work, a novel technique is pr…
Plasmonic nanostructures for light trapping in thin-film solar cells
2019
Abstract The optical properties of localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPR) sustained by self-assembled silver nanoparticles are of great interest for enhancing light trapping in thin film photovoltaics. First, we report on a systematic investigation of the structural and the optical properties of silver nanostructures fabricated by a solid-state dewetting process on various substrates. Our study allows to identify fabrication conditions in which circular, uniformly spaced nanoparticles are obtainable. The optimized NPs are then integrated into plasmonic back reflector (PBR) structures. Second, we demonstrate a novel procedure, involving a combination of opto-electronic spectroscopic tec…
Broadband photocurrent enhancement in a-Si:H solar cells with plasmonic back reflectors
2014
The authors acknowledge Francesco Ruffino for the AFM measurements. This work was funded by the EU FP7 Marie Curie Action FP7-PEOPLE-2010-ITN through the PROPHET project (Grant No. 264687), the bilateral CNR/AVCR project "Photoresponse of nanostructures for advanced photovoltaic applications", the MIUR project Energetic (Grant no. PON02_00355_3391233) and by the Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT-MEC) through the Strategic Project PEst-C/CTM/LA0025/2013-14 and the research project PTDC/CTM-ENE/2514/2012. Plasmonic light trapping in thin film silicon solar cells is a promising route to achieve high efficiency with reduced volumes of semiconductor material. In this paper, we study the enhance…
Carrier-induced quenching processes on the erbium luminescence in silicon nanocluster devices
2006
The luminescence-quenching processes limiting quantum efficiency in Er-doped silicon nanocluster light-emitting devices are investigated and identified. It is found that carrier injection, while needed to excite Er ions through electron-hole recombination, at the same time produces an efficient nonradiative Auger deexcitation with trapped carriers. This phenomenon is studied in detail and, on the basis of its understanding, we propose device structures in which sequential injection of electrons and holes can improve quantum efficiency by avoiding Auger processes. © 2006 The American Physical Society.
Photocurrent enhancement in thin a-Si:H solar cells via plasmonic light trapping
2014
Photocurrent enhancement in thin a-Si:H solar cells due to the plasmonic light trapping is investigated, and correlated with the morphology and the optical properties of the selfassembled silver nanoparticles incorporated in the cells' back reflector. © 2014 OSA.
Colloidal plasmonic back reflectors for light trapping in solar cells.
2014
A novel type of plasmonic light trapping structure is presented in this paper, composed of metal nanoparticles synthesized in colloidal solution and self-assembled in uniform long-range arrays using a wet-coating method. The high monodispersion in size and spherical shape of the gold colloids used in this work allows a precise match between their measured optical properties and electromagnetic simulations performed with Mie theory, and enables the full exploitation of their collective resonant plasmonic behavior for light-scattering applications. The colloidal arrays are integrated in plasmonic back reflector (PBR) structures aimed for light trapping in thin film solar cells. The PBRs exhib…
Structural, electronic, and electrical properties of an Undoped n-Type CdO thin film with high electron concentration
2014
Transparent conducting metal oxides (TCOs) combine the properties of optical transparency in the visible region with a high electrical conductivity. They are a critical component as the window electrode in liquid crystal and electroluminescent display devices, as well as in many designs of solar cells now under development. Sn-doped In2O3 is currently the most important TCO, but it suffers from some drawbacks. These include the high cost of indium, weak optical absorption in the blue-green region, as well as chemical instability that leads to corrosion phenomena in organic light-emitting devices. Indium tin oxide (ITO) films are also brittle and of relatively low durability. A number of oth…
Quantifying the trade-off between useful and parasitic absorption of light for plasmonic light trapping in thin silicon films
2016
We apply a combination of photocurrent and photothermal spectroscopic techniques to experimentally quantify the trade-off between useful and parasitic absorption of light in thin hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (?c-Si:H) films incorporating self-assembled silver nanoparticle arrays, located at the rear side, for improved light trapping via resonant plasmonic scattering. The photothermal technique is used to measure the total absorptance while the photocurrent spectroscopy accounts only for the photons absorbed in the ?c-Si:H layer (useful absorptance); therefore, the method allows for independent quantification of the useful and parasitic absorptance of the plasmonic (or any other) li…
Experimental quantification of useful and parasitic absorption of light in plasmon-enhanced thin silicon films for solar cells application
2016
AbstractA combination of photocurrent and photothermal spectroscopic techniques is applied to experimentally quantify the useful and parasitic absorption of light in thin hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H) films incorporating optimized metal nanoparticle arrays, located at the rear surface, for improved light trapping via resonant plasmonic scattering. The photothermal technique accounts for the total absorptance and the photocurrent signal accounts only for the photons absorbed in the μc-Si:H layer (useful absorptance); therefore, the method allows for independent quantification of the useful and parasitic absorptance of the plasmonic (or any other) light trapping structure. W…
Influence of the electro-optical properties of an a-Si:H single layer on the performances of a pin solar cell
2012
We analyze the results of an extensive characterization study involving electrical and optical measurements carried out on hydrogenated amorphous silicon (α-Si:H) thin film materials fabricated under a wide range of deposition conditions. By adjusting the synthesis parameters, we evidenced how conductivity, activation energy, electrical transport and optical absorption of an α-Si:H layer can be modified and optimized. We analyzed the activation energy and the pre-exponential factor of the dark conductivity by varying the dopant-to-silane gas flow ratio. Optical measurements allowed to extract the absorption spectra and the optical bandgap. Additionally, we report on the temperature dependen…
Photonic-crystal silicon-nanocluster light-emitting device
2006
We report on enhanced light extraction from a light-emitting device based on amorphous silicon nanoclusters, suitable for very-large-scale integration, and operating at room temperature. Standard low-cost optical lithography is employed to fabricate a two-dimensional photonic crystal onto the device. We measured a vertical emission with the extracted radiation enhanced by over a factor of 4, without the aid of any buried reflector. These achievements demonstrate that a cost-effective exploitation of photonic crystals is indeed within the reach of semiconductor industry and open the way to a new generation of nanostructured silicon devices in which photonic and electronic functions are integ…
Sb-implanted ZnO ultra-thin films
2017
Mild heating of the Zn(C5F6HO2)(2)center dot 2H(2)O center dot CH3(OCH2CH2)(2)OCH3 precursor allowed MOCVD deposition of ZnO films, in a low-pressure horizontal hot-wall reactor, on ITO substrates. The ZnO films were subsequently implanted with Sb ions. XRD measurements provided evidence that they consist of hexagonal, (002) and (101) oriented, crystals. UV-vis spectra showed that the transmittance of these films in the visible region is about 90%. The Sb implanted ZnO film showed a current-voltage characteristic that resembles that of a rectifying diode. This study represents the first example of Sb-implantation in ZnO films obtained by MOCVD.
Self-assembled silver nanoparticles for plasmon-enhanced solar cell back reflectors: correlation between structural and optical properties
2013
The spectra of localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPRs) in self-assembled silver nanoparticles (NPs), prepared by solid-state dewetting of thin films, are discussed in terms of their structural properties. We summarize the dependences of size and shape of NPs on the fabrication conditions with a proposed structural-phase diagram. It was found that the surface coverage distribution and the mean surface coverage (SC) size were the most appropriate statistical parameters to describe the correlation between the morphology and the optical properties of the nanostructures. The results are interpreted with theoretical predictions based on Mie theory. The broadband scattering efficiency of LSPR…
Electroluminescence and transport properties in amorphous silicon nanostructures
2006
We report the results of a detailed study on the structural, electrical and optical properties of light emitting devices based on amorphous Si nanostructures. Amorphous nanostructures may constitute an interesting system for the monolithic integration of optical and electrical functions in Si ULSI technology. In fact, they exhibit an intense room temperature electroluminescence (EL), with the advantage of being formed at a temperature of 900 °C, while at least 1100 °C is needed for the formation of Si nanocrystals. Optical and electrical properties of amorphous Si nanocluster devices have been studied in the temperature range between 30 and 300 K. The EL is seen to have a bell-shaped trend …
Direct measurement of optical losses in plasmon-enhanced thin silicon films (Conference Presentation)
2018
Plasmon-enhanced absorption, often considered as a promising solution for efficient light trapping in thin film silicon solar cells, suffers from pronounced optical losses i.e. parasitic absorption, which do not contribute to the obtainable photocurrent. Direct measurements of such losses are therefore essential to optimize the design of plasmonic nanostructures and supporting layers. Importantly, contributions of useful and parasitic absorption cannot be measured separately with commonly used optical spectrophotometry. In this study we apply a novel strategy consisting in a combination of photocurrent and photothermal spectroscopic techniques to experimentally quantify the trade-off betwee…
Nanostructured CdO thin films for water treatments
2016
Abstract CdO was the very first transparent conducting metal oxide discovered. CdO thin films show electrical and optical properties of interest as photosensitive anode materials for photochemical cells, phototransistors, photodiodes, window electrodes in liquid crystal displays, IR detectors, antireflection coatings, gas sensors and in other solar energy applications. In the present study we report on the spectroscopic, microscopic, electrical and photo-catalytic properties of CdO thin films prepared by a metal organic chemical vapor method. The degenerate semiconducting CdO thin films are useful as photocatalysts for water treatments.
Broadband light trapping in thin film solar cells with self-organized plasmonic nano-colloids
2015
The intense light scattered from metal nanoparticles sustaining surface plasmons makes them attractive for light trapping in photovoltaic applications. However, a strong resonant response from nanoparticle ensembles can only be obtained if the particles have monodisperse physical properties. Presently, the chemical synthesis of colloidal nanoparticles is the method that produces the highest monodispersion in geometry and material quality, with the added benefits of being low-temperature, low-cost, easily scalable and of allowing control of the surface coverage of the deposited particles. In this paper, novel plasmonic back-reflector structures were developed using spherical gold colloids wi…