Solar cell photoresponse enhancement with perovskite quantum dots and plasmonic particles

We present the method to improve silicon solar cells through the application of nanomaterials such as perovskite quantum dots and plasmonic particles. We utilized an external quantum efficiency measurement system to test the enhancement of the silicon cells with these nanomaterials. First, we measured bare cells, then tested the same cells with the quantum dots applied to the surface and compared the results. We were able to see clear improvement in the external quantum efficiency of the cells at shorter wavelengths due to the quantum dots' photon down-conversion effect, as well as slight broadband improvement due to the applied material's antireflective ability. We then tested the effect of gold and silver plasmonic particles applied to silicon cells. Enhancement was seen at longer wavelengths for gold particles, and midrange wavelengths for silver particles. We then added both quantum dots and plasmonic particles to further enhance the characteristic of the silicon cells. We discuss the effect of the added nanomaterials, as well as the ways to optimize the effect of applied nanomaterials.