Ultra-thin Intrinsic Amorphous Silicon/Organic Hybrid Structure for Decorative Photovoltaic Applications

We investigate ultra-thin (6 to 31 nm) intrinsic amorphous silicon (a-Si)/organic hybrid photovoltaic (PV) structures that can produce transmissive or reflective colors, which are insensitive to incidence angle of up to +/- 70 degrees regardless of polarization. The distinct colors are based on efficient photon manipulation aided by optical resonance in the ultra-thin a-Si photoactive layer. Up to 3% of power conversion efficiency is achieved by using a few tens of nanometer thick a-Si. The proposed hybrid PV structure can be universally applied to other photoactive material systems for higher power efficiency, addressing decorative applications as well.