Influence of Silver nanoparticles on Tb3+ doped TeO2-ZnO glasses covered Silicon solar cell

Abstract

This work shows the increase of silicon solar cell efficiency due to Tb$^{3+}$ doped tellurite (TeO}2-ZnO-Na2 O-PbO) glass with silver nanoparticles used as cover layer. Due to Tb$^{3+}$ down-conversion process optimized by the plasmon resonance of the metallic nanoparticles, enhancement of $\sim 4.93$% was observed when compared to the efficiency of the uncovered solar cell. The samples are prepared using the melting quenching techinique and the electrical characterization is performed using a solar simulator in order to obtain the current-voltage and power-voltage curve. As there is a mismatch between the solar spectrum and the one of the silicon solar cell, the procedure presented in this work represents an alternative to increase the number of photons that are converted from the ultraviolet region to the visible one and opens the posibility for application with new photovoltaic devices based on organic or inorganic materials.