Enhanced broadband optical absorption from nanostructured nickel thin-films for solar energy applications

This paper presents results obtained from Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) and Transfer Matrix Method (TMM) modelling of nickel thin-films. It is shown that by adding a periodic grating to the surface of the nickel we can dramatically increase its optical absorption over the 300 nm-1000 nm spectral range at normal incidence. The main aim of this work is to maximise the optical absorption of a thin nickel film as part of a solar-thermal energy conversion device.