Project to improve solar cell efficiency through nanostructures unveiled

Together with its project partners*, the aim of the PRIMA project is twofold. Firstly, the project team will attempt to gain insight into the physical mechanisms of metallic nanostructures, and in how they can improve the light absorption of the solar cell's material. Second, the project's partners will study how these structures can best be integrated into the production of solar cells. A number of structures will be tested, benchmarking them against state of the art solar cells. The performance and applicability of these cells will then be assessed by solar cell companies that are participating in the project. With solar cells, metallic nanostructures can boost the absorption of light into the cell's photoactive material. And with an enhanced light absorption, it is possible to produce cells with less base material, thus thinner and cheaper cells. Metal nanostructures can improve the absorption in various types of cells, for example crystalline Si cells, cells based on high-performance III-V semiconductors, or organic and dye-sensitised solar cells. Certain nanostructured metallic surfaces show unique characteristics: they can absorb and intensify light at specific wavelengths. This is because the incoming light results in a collective oscillation of the electrons at the metal's surface. This phenomenon, studied under the name plasmonics, has many promising applications. It can be exploited to transmit optical signals through nanosized interconnects on chips, in nanoparticles that recognise and interact with biomolecules, or in solar cells. * The partners involved in PRIMA are Imperial College (London, UK), Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden), Photovoltech (Belgium), Quantasol (UK) and Australian National University (Australia).