Silicon nanophotonics has become a versatile platform for optics and optoelectronics. For example, strong light localization at the nanoscale and lack of parasitic losses in infrared and visible spectral ranges make resonant silicon nanoparticles a prospect for improvement in such rapidly developing fields as photovoltaics. Here, we employed optically resonant silicon nanoparticles produced by laser ablation for boosting the power conversion efficiency of organic solar cells. Namely, we created colloidal solutions of spherical nanoparticles with a range of diameters (80–240 nm) in different solvents. We tested how the nanoparticles’ position in the device, their concentration, silicon doping, and method of deposition affected the final device efficiency. The best conditions optimization resulted in an efficiency improvement from 6% up to 7.5%, which correlated with numerical simulations of nanoparticles’ optical properties. The developed low-cost approach paves the way toward highly efficient and stable solution-processable solar cells.

Optically resonant silicon nanoparticles have emerged as a prospective platform for the structural coloration of surfaces because of their strong and spectrally selective light scattering. In this work, we developed colorful inks based on polymer mixed with monodisperse Mie-resonant silicon nanoparticles for 3D and inkjet printing. We applied a laser ablation method in a flow cell for the mass production of silicon nanoparticles in water and separated the resulting nanoparticles with different sizes by density-gradient centrifugation. Mixing the colorful nanoparticles with the polymer allows for the printing of 3D objects with various shapes and colors, which are rigid against environmental conditions.