Optimization of light-trapping in thin-film solar cells enhanced with plasmonic nanoparticles

Recently, thin-film solar cells enhanced with plasmonic nanoparticles have attracted much attention of the scientific community. To improve the performance of such cells, an optimization of the nanoparticle parameters such as size, surface coverage and material is performed. Based on this optimization, the role of surface plasmons is discussed and analyzed with respect to optical absorption of the photoactive layer in both the dipolar and multi-polar regimes of the forward scattering configuration.