III–V plasmonic solar cells: Targeting absorption enhancements close to the GaAs band edge

Research into photovoltaics has attracted a great deal of attention in recent years since it represents a realistic solution to the so-called 'energy crisis'. To date however, solar cells have suffered from relatively high cost efficiency ($/Wp), limiting their commercial uptake. Recent research has therefore focused on the need to improve solar cell efficiencies to make photovoltaics a viable alternative to fossil fuels. One area of investigation is in the application of plasmonic nanoparticles in order to enhance the absorption of light in solar cells. Such an enhancement of the photoabsorption may allow the fabrication of structures in which the optical absorption depth is significantly larger than the thickness of the absorbing material, reducing the amount of material required and hence the cost of production.