Affordable universal light-trapping structure for third-generation photovoltaic cells [Invited]

Usually, light-trapping structures (LTSs) for thin-film solar cells (TFSCs) are designed having in mind an explicit photovoltaic (PV) design. This approach implies that every new TFSC in which losses in the substrate of the PV layer or in the transparent electrode are rather high needs the development of its own LTS which should be specially prepared as an integral part of the TFSC. In this work, we suggest a universal LTS that should increase the optical efficiency of all TFSCs of third generation. We theoretically demonstrate the improvement in the PV absorption for an organic TFSC and for a perovskite one. Such LTS can be prepared separately and stacked to a TFSC covered with a nanolayer of gold or silver.