Fig. 1. Si solar cells decorated with Au nanoparticles^[54]. (a) Schematic of Si solar cells decorated with Au nanoparticles;(b) photocurrent response for Si solar cells in the absence of nanoparticles, and decorating with Au nanoparticles of 50, 80, and 100 nm in diameter

Fig. 2. Silicon thin-film solar cells with binate Ag nanoparticles ^[20]. (a) Schematics of the simulated silicon solar cell with spherical silver nanoparticle on silicon surface and inside the silicon; (b) absorption spectra of silicon solar cell without nanoparticles and with two spherical nanoparticles at the top side of the cell and embedded binate nanoparticles

Fig. 3. Silicon solar cell with different shapes of nanoparticles (clustering pyramidal-shaped Ag nanoparticles, clustering spherical-shaped Ag nanoparticles, clustering conical-shaped Ag nanoparticles, and clustering cylindrical-shaped Ag nanoparticles)^[67]. (a) Schematics of simulated silicon solar cell; (b) absorption spectra of silicon solar cell

Fig. 4. a-Si∶H thin-film solar cell modified by metal nanoparticles ^[74]. (a) Schematic of a-Si∶H solar cell with metal nanoparticles; (b) absorption spectra of solar cell embedded with Al, Ag, Au and Cu nanoparticles, here “no NP” indicates the absorption spectrum without nanoparticles

Fig. 5. Solar cell with In NPs and TiO₂ space layer on the front surface and Ag NPs on the rear surface^[16].(a) Schematic of silicon solar cell with Ag on the rear surface, and In nanoparticles and TiO₂ space layer on the front surface; (b) I-V curves of bare solar cell and the solar cell with Ag NPs on the rear surface; (c) I-V curves of the solar cell with Ag NPs on the rear surface and the solar cell with In NPs and TiO₂ space layer on the front surface and Ag NPs on the rear surface; (d) I-V curves of bare solar cell and the solar cell with In NPs and TiO₂ space layer on the front surface and Ag NPs on the rear surface

Fig. 6. Solar cell with hybrid light-trapping structure^[5]. (a) Schematic of front and rear surfaces of the proposed solar cell; (b) I-V curves of the solar cells with and without hybrid light-trapping structure

Fig. 7. Schematic of an n-Si solar cell with SiO₂/TiN as the rear contact^[88]. (a) Schematic of an n-Si solar cell with TiN as the rear contact; (b) I-V curves of the devices with different rear contact materials of Al,TiN, and SiO₂/TiN, where the inset shows an PL image of the cell with a SiO₂/TiN contact

Fig. 8. Solar cells with other light-trapping structures. (a) Schematic of the silicon solar cell with nano-conical upper and lower surface^[10]; (b) schematic of the silicon solar cell with Ag-SiO₂ core-shell hemispherical nanoparticles and metal triangle-like back gratings^[43]; (c) schematic of the silicon solar cell with nanostructured dielectric layer of SiN_x on top of c-Si^[89]; (d) schematic of the silicon solar cell with nanopyramid and metal nanoparticles^[90]; (e) schematic of the silicon solar cell with TiN nanogratings^[2]; (f) schematic of the silicon solar cell with Al-Cu nanogratings^[42]