Solar-matched broadband (400-1400 nm) plasmonic absorbing inks

Noble metal nanoparticles are strong absorbers of incident radiation in a tailorable fashion. Several solutionprocessed methods of fabricating metallic nanostructures exist. For large area solar cells, it is essential that the developed ink be cost-effective and reasonably overlap with the solar spectrum. In this work, we report the development of light-mediated synthetic method under various light sources, involving the evolution of spherical silver nanoparticles into large anisotropic silver nanoparticles of variable sizes. Reduction of silver nitrate in an aqueous sodium citrate solution results in spherical Ag nanoparticles that turned the stock solution yellow. The solution was aged under various light sources. Broadband (400-1400 nm) absorption was observed for the resulting ink. This synthesis method is thus potentially suitable for an industrial scale process for inks with a tailorable match with the solar spectrum (AM1.5G).