The Effect of Au Nanoparticles on the Photovoltaic Conversion Efficiency in CdTe/CdS Thin Films

In our previous studies, we’ve worked on the effects silver nanoparticles have on the efficiency of CdS/CdTe thin film solar cells. In short, the addition of the nanoparticles in the np affects junction light scattering in a way that have a positive effect on efficiency of photovoltaic conversion. Currently, we’re testing gold nanoparticles on the same solar cells and plan on comparing the effects of different deposition times, particle sizes, and how they compare to the efficiencies of that of silver. The deposition method used to create these thin film solar cells is Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD). The laser shoots at the target material we want to deposit (CdS/Au/CdTe) turning it into a plume of plasma that deposits onto a slide of ITO (indium tin oxide) coated glass. Varying how long the laser shoots at the gold changes the amount of gold deposited. The more gold in the np junction, the more light scattering happens, increasing the efficiency of the solar cell. However, the efficiency cuts off with enough gold added. The Au embedded CdS/CdTe thin film solar cells were characterized by XRD, AFM, SEM/EDX and the photovoltaic conversion efficiency were determined by Ketihley Sourcemeter setup.