Improved light trapping in microcrystalline silicon solar cells by plasmonic back reflector with broad angular scattering and low parasitic absorption

Hui‐min, Tan; Sivec, Laura; Yan, Baojie; Santbergen, Rudi; Zeman, Miro; Smets, Arno H. M.

doi:10.1063/1.4802451

Cited by 60 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…The results of flat Ag/AZO (SS/flat_Ag/AZO) and randomly nanotextured Ag/AZO (SS/textured_Ag/AZO, RMS of 39 nm and lateral feature size from 100 nm to 500 nm) on stainless steel foils (SS) are plotted as references. Compared with the flat BR, a TR reduction appeared for textured BRs (random or micro-cone) because of intrinsic losses caused by the surface plasmon absorption of the silver layer [48]. Although the RMS of P3H0.5/Ag/AZO is much higher than that of randomly nanotextured BR, they demonstrate similar TR.…”

Section: Optical Propertiesmentioning

confidence: 79%

“…The results of flat Ag/AZO and randomly nanotextured Ag/AZO using the same sputtering parameters as MCS/AZO and QCS/AZO, respectively, were also plotted as references. It is clear that the introduction of textured Ag layers, irrespective of random or periodic, micro or nano, would inevitably results in extra surface plasmon absorptions [48] even covered with AZO layers. Unlike the smooth reflection curve of the SS/textured_Ag/AZO BR, many ripples appear on the spectra of the MCS/AZO, which correspond to a series of diffraction governed by the grating equation [23].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Light-trapping capacity strongly depends on the reflecting and scattering ability of BRs [15,48]. Figure 17 demonstrates the optical properties of three MCPS BRs (P3H0.5/Ag/AZO, P3H1/Ag/AZO, P3H1.5/Ag/AZO), where the total reflectance and haze factor are shown in Figure 17a,b, respectively.…”

Section: Optical Propertiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Photonic Structures for Light Trapping in Thin Film Silicon Solar Cells: Design and Experiment

et al. 2017

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Abstract:One of the foremost challenges in designing thin-film silicon solar cells (TFSC) is devising efficient light-trapping schemes due to the short optical path length imposed by the thin absorber thickness. The strategy relies on a combination of a high-performance back reflector and an optimized texture surface, which are commonly used to reflect and scatter light effectively within the absorption layer, respectively. In this paper, highly promising light-trapping structures based on a photonic crystal (PC) for TFSCs were investigated via simulation and experiment. Firstly, a highly-reflective one-dimensional photonic crystal (1D-PC) was designed and fabricated. Then, two types of 1D-PC-based back reflectors (BRs) were proposed: Flat 1D-PC with random-textured aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) or random-textured 1D-PC with AZO. These two newly-designed BRs demonstrated not only high reflectivity and sufficient conductivity, but also a strong light scattering property, which made them efficient candidates as the electrical contact and back reflector since the intrinsic losses due to the surface plasmon modes of the rough metal BRs can be avoided. Secondly, conical two-dimensional photonic crystal (2D-PC)-based BRs were investigated and optimized for amorphous a-SiGe:H solar cells. The maximal absorption value can be obtained with an aspect ratio of 1/2 and a period of 0.75 µm. To improve the full-spectral optical properties of solar cells, a periodically-modulated PC back reflector was proposed and experimentally demonstrated in the a-SiGe:H solar cell. This periodically-modulated PC back reflector, also called the quasi-crystal structure (QCS), consists of a large periodic conical PC and a randomly-textured Ag layer with a feature size of 500-1000 nm. The large periodic conical PC enables conformal growth of the layer, while the small feature size of Ag can further enhance the light scattering. In summary, a comprehensive study of the design, simulation and fabrication of 1D-PC-and 2D-PC-based back reflectors for TFSCs was carried out. Total absorption and device performance enhancement were achieved with the novel PC light-trapping systems because of their high reflectivity or high scattering property. Further research is necessary to illuminate the optimal structure design of PC-based back reflectors and high solar cell efficiency.

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Section: Optical Propertiesmentioning

confidence: 79%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Photonic Structures for Light Trapping in Thin Film Silicon Solar Cells: Design and Experiment

et al. 2017

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“…They can increase the optical path length with strongly diffracting the light. [39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46] Biswas et al fabricated metallic photonic crystal back reflectors and deposit amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) on it. They observed a 7% increase in average light absorption in analogous with a flat reference device.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plasmonic excitation-assisted optical and electric enhancement in ultra-thin solar cells: the influence of nano-strip cross section

2015

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The effects of Ag nano-strips with triangle, rectangular and trapezoid cross sections on the optical absorption, generation rate, and short-circuit current density of ultra-thin solar cells were investigated. By putting the nano-strips as a grating structure on the top of the solar cells, the waveguide, surface plasmon polariton (SPP), and localized surface plasmon (LSP) modes, which are excited with the assistance of nano-strips, were evaluated in TE and TM polarizations. The results show, firstly, the TM modes are more influential than TE modes in optical and electrical properties enhancement of solar cell, because of plasmonic excitations in TM mode. Secondly, the trapezoid nano-strips reveal noticeable impact on the optical absorption, generation rate, and short-circuit current density enhancement than triangle and rectangular ones. In particular, the absorption of long wavelengths which is a challenge in ultra-thin solar cells is significantly improved by using Ag trapezoid nano-strips.

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“…Silver nanoparticles have widespread application in nanotechnology and are being used in diverse applications ranging from bio nanoscience 1 , thermal applications 2 and photovoltaics 3,4 . Our interest arises from their optical properties due to the interaction of the conduction electron cloud of a nanoparticle with incident electromagnetic radiation.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Sub-monolayer growth of Ag on flat and nanorippled SiO2 surfaces

Bhatnagar

Ranjan

Jolley

et al. 2016

Applied Physics Letters

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In-situ Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS) and Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations have been used to investigate the growth dynamics of silver on a flat and the rippled silica surface. The calculated sticking coefficient of silver over a range of incidence angles shows a similar behaviour to the experimental results for an average surface binding energy of a silver adatom of 0.2 eV. This value was used to parameterise the MD model of the cumulative deposition of silver in order to understand the growth mechanisms. Both the model and the RBS results show marginal difference between the atomic concentration of silver on the flat and the rippled silica surface, for the same growth conditions. For oblique incidence, cluster growth occurs mainly on the leading edge of the rippled structure.

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Improved light trapping in microcrystalline silicon solar cells by plasmonic back reflector with broad angular scattering and low parasitic absorption

Cited by 60 publications

References 26 publications

Photonic Structures for Light Trapping in Thin Film Silicon Solar Cells: Design and Experiment

Photonic Structures for Light Trapping in Thin Film Silicon Solar Cells: Design and Experiment

Plasmonic excitation-assisted optical and electric enhancement in ultra-thin solar cells: the influence of nano-strip cross section

Sub-monolayer growth of Ag on flat and nanorippled SiO2 surfaces

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