Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Journal of Applied Research and Technology www.jart.ccadet.unam.mx Journal of Applied Research and Technology 15 (2017) 102–109 Original Enhancement of GdVO 4 :Eu3+ red fluorescence through plasmonic effect of silver nanoprisms on Si solar cell surface Swati Bishnoi, Santa Chawla ∗ Luminescent Materials Group, CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, Dr. K.S. Krishnan Road, New Delhi 110012, India Received 30 August 2016; accepted 10 January 2017 Available online 27 March 2017 Abstract A comprehensive study on deposition and conjugation of red emitting phosphor (GdVO 4 :Eu 3+ ) and silver nanoprisms (Ag NP) on commercial single crystal silicon solar cell surface has been done to establish the optimum dielectric separating layer (PVA) sequence between consecutive species through confocal fluorescence mapping and spectroscopy. Results show that up to 310% fluorescence enhancement could be achieved in optimal arrangement of emitter, PVA and Ag NP layers on Si cell surface. The current work shows the potential of plasmon enhanced down shifting fluorescence of rare-earth doped vanadate in enhancing performance of SiPV devices. © 2017 Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Centro de Ciencias Aplicadas y Desarrollo Tecnológico. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Keywords: Plasmon enhanced fluorescence; Rare earth doped phosphor; Metal nanoparticles 1. Introduction Solar spectrum conversion through phosphors is a poten- tial option for utilizing the ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (IR) part of the solar spectrum that otherwise remains unutilized by existing silicon solar cells. Silicon solar cells have inher- ent lower spectral response in the ultraviolet-blue (300–450 nm) region because of its band gap (1.1 eV) and fast surface recom- bination, high reflectance and thermalization losses of high energy photons (Shalav, Richards, Trupke, Krämer, & Güdel, 2005). Such losses may be minimized by using a down shif- ting (DS) phosphor layer which can convert a portion of the incident high energy UV photons to the visible region, where the Si solar cell has optimum spectral response (Chawla, Parvaz, Kumar, & Buch, 2013; Richards, 2006). Solar UV photons are absorbed near the Si cell surface which leads to the recombination of photo-generated electrons with surface defects, lowering the short wavelength spectral response. A DS phosphor layer on the Si surface can readily absorb UV photons and give fluorescence of lower energy photons that ∗ Corresponding author. E-mail address: sntchawla@yahoo.com (S. Chawla). Peer Review under the responsibility of Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. can be absorbed deep within the solar cell, close to the deple- tion region thus enhancing the collection efficiency. The red spectral region offers an optimum balance in the penetration depth and spectral response of Si cell. The development of suitable phosphors with high luminescence efficiency and inte- gration of phosphor layer with Si solar cell is a daunting task. Rare earth-doped red-emitting phosphors, particularly Eu 3+ doped vanadates (Gavrilovi´ c, Jovanovi´ c, Lojpur, & Drami´ canin, 2014; Khan et al., 2008) and oxides (Dai, Foley, Breshike, Lita, & Strouse, 2011; Jayaramaiah, Lakshminarasappa, & Nagabhushana, 2012; Yadav et al., 2009) have shown very high luminescence efficiency. There are few reports on the direct deposition of phosphor layer on Si cell surface with dye (Klampaftis, Congiu, Robertson, & Richards, 2011), inorganic rare earth-doped phosphors (Yen-Chi, Woan-Yu, & Teng-Ming, 2011; Chen & Chen, 2011). Enhancement in Si cell efficiency by using Eu 3+ complexes doped polyvinyl acetate (PVA) film (Liu et al., 2013; Le Donne, Acciarri, Narducci, Marchionna, & Binetti, 2009) and a layer of YVO 4 :Bi 3+ , Eu 3+ nanophos- phors (Huang et al., 2013) are reported. Recently there have been reports on the improvement in the performance of Si solar cells using nanostructured YVO 4 :Eu 3+ downshifting phosphor layer (Chander et al., 2015; Kumar, Khan, & Chawla, 2013). Gadolinium orthovanadate (GdVO 4 )-based materials have gained attention because of their interesting luminescent and http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jart.2017.01.007 1665-6423/© 2017 Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Centro de Ciencias Aplicadas y Desarrollo Tecnológico. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).