Application of PLD to the production of plasmonic structures containing Ag nanoparticles based on chalcopyrite solar cells

The effect of a single layer of Ag nanoparticles NPs embedded in amorphous Al2O3 grown on Cu In,Ga Se2 CIGSe thin film solar cells is analyzed. CIGSe thin films with Cu In Ga 0.62 0.81 atomic ratios are used asabsorber layers. Ag NPs with mean diameters 2 nm and Surface Plasmon Resonance close to 400 nm were deposited by pulsed laser deposition PLD on top of the solar cell. An efficiency of 15.9 is achieved for hybrid Ag NPs CIGSe solar cells, close to that obtained by the best reference cell without the metallic NPs. These results suggest that PLD is a valid approach to produce plasmonic PV solar cell

Application of PLD to the production of plasmonic structures containing Ag nanoparticles based on chalcopyrite solar cells

The effect of a single layer of Ag nanoparticles (NPs) embedded in amorphous Al2O3 grown on Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGSe) thin film solar cells is analyzed. CIGSe thin films with Cu/(In+Ga)= 0.62-0.81 atomic ratios are used as absorber layers. Ag NPs with mean diameters ¿¿2 nm and Surface Plasmon Resonance close to 400 nm were deposited by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) on top of the solar cell. An efficiency of 15.9 % is achieved for hybrid Ag NPs-CIGSe solar cells, close to that obtained by the best reference cell without the metallic NPs. These results suggest that PLD is a valid approach to produce plasmonic PV solar cells.The authors acknowledge the financial support of Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Project MAT2009-14282-C02-01). G. B. acknowledges a CSIC–JAE predoctoral grant partially supported by the European Social Fund. The authors would also like to thank T. Münchenberg, J. Schniebs, R. Schwiegert, C. Kelch, M. Kirsch and M. Galvan for technical support.Peer Reviewe