Efficiency enhancement in thin-film c-Si HIT solar cells using luminescent 2.85 nm silicon nanoparticles

A simple and low-cost method for enhancing the efficiency of c-Si HIT solar cells is reported. By coating 2.85 nm silicon nanoparticles (Si NPs) on the top of the solar cells, efficiency improvement is observed with respect to the uncoated reference cells. The efficiency enhancement can be attributed to the Si NPs photoluminescence (Ultra Violet absorption followed by red re-emission). Spin coating technique was used to integrate Si NPs on the cells. Compared to uncoated solar cells, Si NPs coated solar cells show an average improvement of 2.33% and 5.16% in short circuit current density (J_sc) and efficiency respectively.