Nanostructured materials for solar energy conversion

This review article deals with the motivation for using nanostructured materials in the field of solar energy conversion. We discuss briefly some recent fundamental observations on supported nanoclusters and optical properties of embedded metallic nanoclusters in a dielectric matrix. An overview on current research and existing applications in this field is given. Nanocomposite thin films developed for the application as optically selective absorber coatings in thermal solar collectors are described in some more detail. These coatings are based on transition metal containing amorphous hydrogenated carbon films (a-C:H/TM) or on transition metal containing silicon-carbon films (a-Si:C:H/TM) produced by a combined PVD/PECVD process.