Enhanced optical absorption in nanopatterned silicon thin films with a nano-cone-hole structure for photovoltaic applications

Du, Qingguo; Kam, C. H.; Demir, Hilmi Volkan; Hónɡ, Yú; Sun, Xiao Wei

doi:10.1364/ol.36.001713

Cited by 70 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 23 publications

(38 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…15,16 Light-trapping has proved beneficial in Silicon, Gallium Arsenide and organic solar cells. [17][18][19][20][21][22] Light absorption enhancement and PCE improvement have been demonstrated both experimentally and theoretically. However, light-trapping enhancements have not yet been fully exploited in perovskite solar cells.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Light-trapping in perovskite solar cells

Shen

John

2016

AIP Advances

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We numerically demonstrate enhanced light harvesting efficiency in both CH3NH3PbI3 and CH(NH2)2PbI3-based perovskite solar cells using inverted vertical-cone photonic-crystal nanostructures. For CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite solar cells, the maximum achievable photocurrent density (MAPD) reaches 25.1 mA/cm2, corresponding to 92% of the total available photocurrent in the absorption range of 300 nm to 800 nm. Our cell shows 6% absorption enhancement compared to the Lambertian limit (23.7 mA/cm2) and has a projected power conversion efficiency of 12.9%. Excellent solar absorption is numerically demonstrated over a broad angular range from 0 to 60 degree for both S- and P- polarizations. For the corresponding CH(NH2)2PbI3 based perovskite solar cell, with absorption range of 300 nm to 850 nm, we find a MAPD of 29.1 mA/cm2, corresponding to 95.4% of the total available photocurrent. The projected power conversion efficiency of the CH(NH2)2PbI3 based photonic crystal solar cell is 23.4%, well above the current world record efficiency of 20.1%.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Light-trapping in perovskite solar cells

Shen

John

2016

AIP Advances

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…More importantly low grade Si raw materials can be utilized when combining the nanostructures arrays, as light trapping and carrier collection can be decoupled, which is beneficial to lower the manufacturing cost. The enhanced light absorption of Si nanostructures arrays have been demonstrated both theoretically and experimentally, such as nanowire, 1 nanohole, 2-6 and nanocone [7][8][9][10] arrays. However, after introducing the high aspect ratio associated with silicon nanowire and nanohole arrays, conformal deposition of the transparent electrodes over the nanostructure surface for efficient photo-generated carrier collection becomes challenging, resulting in low power conversion efficiencies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electromagnetic Spectrum Analysis and Its Influence on the Photoelectric Conversion Efficiency of Solar Cells

Ding

Wangyang

et al. 2016

j nanosci nanotechnol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The electromagnetic spectrum and the photoelectric conversion efficiency of the silicon hexagonal nanoconical hole (SiHNH) arrays based solar cells is systematically analyzed according to Rigorous Coupled Wave Analysis (RCWA) and Modal Transmission Line (MTL) theory. An ultimate efficiency of the optimized SiHNH arrays based solar cell is up to 31.92% in consideration of the absorption spectrum, 4.52% higher than that of silicon hexagonal nanoconical frustum (SiHNF) arrays. The absorption enhancement of the SiHNH arrays is due to its lower reflectance and more supported guided-mode resonances, and the enhanced ultimate efficiency is insensitive to bottom diameter (D(bot)) of nanoconical hole and the incident angle. The result provides an additional guideline for the nanostructure surface texturing fabrication design for photovoltaic applications.

show abstract

“…Nanophotonic light trapping structures have been studied for c-Si thin film solar cells as they significantly surpass the light path enhancement limit of geometrical ray optics [2] by means of efficient optical coupling of the incident sunlight into the nanostructured thin-film absorber as well as a large density of waveguide modes in the absorbing Si material [1,3,4]. Periodic nanophotonic structures being mostly fabrication-friendly in concrete applications, molding the absorbing silicon material in diverse periodic lattice geometries have been investigated to efficiently route and absorb the incident light [1,[3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. In textured thin film crystalline Si solar cells, it is also of prime importance to tune the features of their lattice point basis structure in order to optimize the light trapping effects of periodically structured absorber layer.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Computational analysis of triangular and honeycomb lattice-structured tapered nanoholes for enhanced light trapping in thin-film Si solar cells

Xavier

Becker

2014

SPIE Proceedings

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

For an optimized light harvesting while using diverse periodic photonic light-trapping architectures in low cost thin film crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells, it is also of prime importance to tune the features of their lattice point basis structure. In view of this, tapered nanoholes would be of importance for envisaged better light in-coupling due to graded index effect and also from the point of fabrication feasibility. Using a 3D finite element method based computational simulator, we investigate the basis structural influence of triangular as well as honeycomb lattice-structured experimentally feasible tapered air nanoholes in ~400 nm thick c-Si absorber on a glass substrate. We present a detailed convergence analysis of volume absorption in Si absorber with cylindrical as well as tapered nanoholes. For a wavelength rage of 300 nm to 1100 nm, we present the computed results on light absorption of the engineered Si nanoholes for a lattice periodicity of600nm. In particular, we study the influence of tapering angle of engineered nano air holes in Si thin film for the absorption enhancement in photonic triangular and honeycomb lattice structured tapered nanoholes. Further we make a comparative analysis of cylindrical and tapered nanoholes for a range of light incident angles from 0° to 60°. For the presented triangular as well as honeycomb lattice structured nanoholes, we observe that in comparison to the cylindrical nanoholes, the tapered nanoholes perform better in terms of light trapping for enhanced light absorption in textured Si thin films even when the effective volume fraction of Si is lower in the absorber layer with tapered nanoholes in comparison to that of cylindrical ones. From the maximum achievable short circuit current density estimation in the present study, the performance of c-Si absorbing layer engineered with triangular lattice structured tapered air holes harvests light efficiently owing to its higher lattice symmetry among periodic structures as well as graded index effect of the tapered nanoholes.

show abstract

Enhanced optical absorption in nanopatterned silicon thin films with a nano-cone-hole structure for photovoltaic applications

Cited by 70 publications

References 23 publications

Light-trapping in perovskite solar cells

Light-trapping in perovskite solar cells

Electromagnetic Spectrum Analysis and Its Influence on the Photoelectric Conversion Efficiency of Solar Cells

Computational analysis of triangular and honeycomb lattice-structured tapered nanoholes for enhanced light trapping in thin-film Si solar cells

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About