Due to the remarkable progress in photovoltaic technology, enhancing efficiency and minimized the costs have emerged as global challenges for the solar industry. A crucial aspect of this advancement involves the creation of solar cell antireflection coating, which play a significant role in minimizing sunlight reflection on the cell surface. In this study, we report on the optimization of the characteristics of CeO2 films prepared by pulsed laser deposition through the variation of laser energy density. The deposited CeO2 nanostructure films have been used as an effective antireflection coating (ARC) and light-trapping morphology to improve the efficiency of silicon crystalline solar cell. The film’s thickness increases as laser fluence increase. The refractive index of the antireflective film is measured as a function of laser fluence. The properties of CeO2 thin films’ were characterized by various techniques. X-ray diffraction measurements show the grown films were crystalline with cubic and hexagonal phases. The degree of crystallinity of the film increases with the increase in the laser fluence. Scanning electron microscope results reveal that the film’s morphology and film uniformity improved as the laser fluence increases. Raman shift of the CeO2 film as a function of laser energy density was investigated. Photovoltaic properties show that the conversion efficiency of the silicon solar cell increases from 8.37 to 14.04% after deposited with ARC CeO2 film at laser energy density of 76.39 J/cm2. The CeO2 films deposited at 76.39 J/cm2 laser pulse energy density have highest hydrophobicity among all the prepared samples.
