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Ag and Sn Nanoparticles to Enhance the Near-Infrared Absorbance of a-Si:H Thin Films

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Abstract

Silver (Ag) and tin (Sn) nanoparticles (NPs) were deposited by thermal evaporation onto heated glass substrates with a good control of size, shape and surface coverage. This process has the advantage of allowing the fabrication of thin-film solar cells with incorporated NPs without vacuum break, since it does not require chemical processes or post-deposition annealing. The X-ray diffraction, TEM and SEM properties are correlated with optical measurements and amorphous silicon hydrogenated (a-Si:H) films deposited on top of both types of NPs show enhanced absorbance in the near-infrared. The results are interpreted with electromagnetic modelling performed with Mie theory. A broad emission in the near-infrared region is considerably increased after covering the Ag nanoparticles with an a-Si:H layer. Such effect may be of interest for possible down-conversion mechanisms in novel photovoltaic devices.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge Strategic Project PEst-C/CTM/LA0025/2011, project PTDC/CTM/099719/2008 and the colleagues Joana Vaz Pinto and Luis Pereira for the XRD and SEM measurements. M. J. Mendes also acknowledges funding from the EU FP7 Marie Curie Action (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-ITN) through the PROPHET project (Grant No. 264687).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CENIMAT/I3N, Departamento de Ciência dos Materiais, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, FCT, Universidade Nova de Lisboa and CEMOP-UNINOVA, 2829-516, Caparica, Portugal

    D. Gaspar, A. C Pimentel, T. Mateus, A. Araújo, A. Vicente, S. A. Filonovich, H. Águas, R. Martins & I. Ferreira

  2. MATIS CNR-IMM, via S. Sofia 64, 95123, Catania, Italy

    M. J. Mendes

  3. Departamento de Física/I3N, Universidade de Aveiro, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal

    B. P. Falcão, J. P. Leitão & J. Soares

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  1. D. Gaspar
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  2. A. C Pimentel
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  4. T. Mateus
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  5. B. P. Falcão
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  8. A. Araújo
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  9. A. Vicente
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  10. S. A. Filonovich
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  11. H. Águas
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  13. I. Ferreira
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Correspondence to I. Ferreira.

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Gaspar, D., Pimentel, A.C., Mendes, M.J. et al. Ag and Sn Nanoparticles to Enhance the Near-Infrared Absorbance of a-Si:H Thin Films. Plasmonics 9, 1015–1023 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-014-9709-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-014-9709-0

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