Novel techniques to improve the light harvesting of thin film solar cells

Thin film solar cells are novel technologies receiving particular attention for their potentials to produce less expensive and more environmentally friendly renewable electricity from the sun light. This paper reports on different techniques that have been considered to improve the light harvesting, from the plasmonic resonance of noble metal nanoparticles, to the nanoparticles of a different semiconductor with different refractive index and band gap, to the anti-reflection surface textures as moth-eye-like shapes. Results of novel simulations solving the Maxwell's equations are compared to previous simulations.