However, the results show that the reflectance reduces consistently with the increase of the number of cycles. This is attributed to the enhanced light absorptance of nanostructured silicon [20]. At higher number of cycles, the gold content reduces; however, the total quantity of the nanofiber PD0332991 cell line increases. Therefore, the overall light absorptance of the treated substrate improves as the number of cycles increases. From these results, we can conclude that gold nanoparticles moderately enhance the light absorptance of silicon nanofiber. The enhancement is more effective

when the quantity of silicon nanofibers is relatively low. If the deposition thickness of nanofiber is limited, embedding gold nanoparticles can be a method for enhancing light absorptance. Moreover, the spectra exhibit a characteristic lower peak with the tail portion of the broadband extending towards the UV wavelength range. The width of the 519-nm peak is broadened and the height is lowered to a greater extent by introducing more laser shots. BAY 57-1293 chemical structure This spectral change indicates that the diameters of the nanoparticles are reduced more under irradiation of the laser with higher dwell time and more laser shots [20]. Moreover, when nanoparticles are sufficiently close

together, interaction between neighboring particles arises. In simple words, when the longer dwell time creates a greater quantity of unique and homogenous distribution of the nanofibrous structures, the dipole created by the electric field of light induces a surface polarization charge, which effectively acts as a Z-IETD-FMK purchase restoring force for free electrons. Conclusions In summary,

a simple and inexpensive method unless was implemented for synthesizing metal-semiconductor nanofibrous structures by using femtosecond laser material processing. The gold-silicon content ratio can be controlled by the number of interactive laser pulses. The highly improved coupling efficiency between light and the bulk quantity of gold nanoparticles may be attributed to the excitation of confined plasmon modes on the structured metal surfaces. These Au-Si solar cell nanofibrous structures may be a promising candidate for future photovoltaic application. Acknowledgements This work was funded by the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Ministry of Research and Innovation of Ontario, Canada. References 1. Gebeyehu D, Brabec CJ, Sariciftci NS: Solid-state organic/inorganic hybrid solar cells based on conjugated polymers and dye-sensitized TiO 2 electrodes. Thin Solid Films 2002, 403–404:271–274.CrossRef 2. Keis K, Magnusson E, Lindstrom H, Lindquist SE, Hagfeldt A: A 5% efficient photoelectrochemical solar cell based on nanostructured ZnO electrodes. Sol Energy Mater Sol Cells 2002, 73:51–58.CrossRef 3. Minsung J, Koichi K: Synthesis and characterization of silicon nanowire using tin catalyst for solar cells application.