Our nanopatterning technology can produce structures that improve the efficiency of current solar cells. Substrates patterned with periodic arrays of plasmonic nanostructures can control light to improve the efficiency of conventional solar cells, i.e., by trapping light that would otherwise pass through the cell and be lost. In addition, cells made with such patterned substrates are substantially thinner–resulting in cost savings through decreased material usage and increased factory output.

Some of our work has been carried out under the sponsorship of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden Colorado, where cell performance was certified and shown to exhibit enhanced performance compared to the same devices without the nanostructured substrate.