Broadband photocurrent enhancement in a-Si:H solar cells with plasmonic back reflectors
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…
Photocurrent enhancement in thin a-Si:H solar cells via plasmonic light trapping
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.
Broadband light trapping in thin film solar cells with self-organized plasmonic nano-colloids
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…
Smart optically active VO2 nanostructured layers applied in roof-type ceramic tiles for energy efficiency
Abstract The capability to control in an smart way the infrared reflectance to environmental temperature variations can be achieved with thermochromic materials like VO2. In this paper, we report the application of VO2 on ceramic tiles aiming to control the reflected infrared radiation on smart roofs and thus improving the energy efficiency, which is associated to the reduction of the carbon dioxide emissions. The VO2 nanoparticles have been produced by hydrothermal synthesis assisted by microwave irradiation, providing a new, quicker and cleaner production route. Afterwards, the VO2 nanoparticles were transferred to the surface of ceramic glassy tiles, which were prepared through dispersin…