Optimized Spatial Correlations for Broadband Light Trapping Nanopatterns in High Efficiency Ultrathin Film a-Si:H Solar Cells

Ferry, Vivian E.; Verschuuren, Marc A.; Lare, M.-Claire van; Schropp, R.E.I.; Atwater, Harry A.; Polman, A.

doi:10.1021/nl202226r

Cited by 355 publications

(311 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…For both figures, in comparison with the flat cavities shown in Figure 1b,c, the broadening of the cavity mode from the contributions of different AOI absorption bands is evident, in addition to the emergence of the in‐plane propagation modes in the short wavelength regime 30, 31, 32, 33. It is worth mentioning that the calculated optical absorption was relatively insensitive to the variation of height and period of the corrugation, over the range of 1000 nm < P /4 < 2500 nm and 1000 nm < A < 2500 nm (see the Supporting Information).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 89%

Ultrathin Organic Solar Cells with a Power Conversion Efficiency of Over ≈13.0%, Based on the Spatial Corrugation of the Metal Electrode–Cathode Fabry–Perot Cavity

Park

2018

Advanced Science

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The application of nanophotonic structures for organic solar cells (OSCs) is quite popular and successful, and has led to increased optical absorption, better spectral overlap with solar irradiances, and improved charge collection. Significant improvements in the power conversion efficiency (PCE) have also been reported, exceeding 11%. Nonetheless, with the given material properties of OSCs with low optical absorption, narrow spectrum, short transport length of carriers, and nonuniform photocarrier generations resulting from the nanophotonic structure, the PCE of single‐junction OSCs has been stagnant over the past few years, at a barrier of 12%. Here, an ultrathin inverted OSC structure with the highest efficiency of ≈13.0%, while being made from widely used organic materials, is demonstrated. By introducing a smooth spatial corrugation to the vertical plasmonic cavity enclosing the active layer, in‐plane propagation modes and hybridized Fabry–Perot cavity modes inside the corrugated cavity are derived to achieve an ultralow Q, uniform coverage of optical absorption, in addition to uniform photocarrier generation and transport. As the first demonstration of ultra‐broadband absorption with the introduction of spatial corrugation to the ultrathin metal film electrode–cathode Fabry–Perot cavity, future applications of the same concept in other light‐harvesting devices utilizing different materials and structures are expected.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 89%

Ultrathin Organic Solar Cells with a Power Conversion Efficiency of Over ≈13.0%, Based on the Spatial Corrugation of the Metal Electrode–Cathode Fabry–Perot Cavity

Park

2018

Advanced Science

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“…There are an increasing number of excellent efforts on the development of smart algorithms for the design of metallic nanostructure arrays that afford broadband light concentration 13 . In addition, there has been excellent work aimed at analysing the effect of randomness in surface textures on the performance of solar cells [14][15][16][17] . That said, there is no systematic and general strategy currently available to optimize the degree and type of disorder in lighttrapping layers.…”

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confidence: 99%

Optimization of non-periodic plasmonic light-trapping layers for thin-film solar cells

et al. 2013

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Non-periodic arrangements of nanoscale light scatterers allow for the realization of extremely effective broadband light-trapping layers for solar cells. However, their optimization is challenging given the massive number of degrees of freedom. Brute-force, full-field electromagnetic simulations are computationally too time intensive to identify high-performance solutions in a vast design space. Here we illustrate how a semi-analytical model can be used to quickly identify promising non-periodic spatial arrangements of nanoscale scatterers. This model only requires basic knowledge of the scattering behaviour of a chosen nanostructure and the waveguiding properties of the semiconductor layer in a cell. Due to its simplicity, it provides new intuition into the ideal amount of disorder in high-performance light-trapping layers. Using simulations and experiments, we demonstrate that arrays of nanometallic stripes featuring a limited amount of disorder, for example, following a quasi-periodic or Fibonacci sequence, can substantially enhance solar absorption over perfectly periodic and random arrays.

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“…These disordered structures have received renewed interest for photon management in a variety of engineering applications, such as highly efficient photon extraction in light-emitting diodes 8 , biomimetic structural coloration 5,9 and random lasing 10,11 . Unlike perfectly periodic [12][13][14][15][16] or totally random structures, quasi-random nanostructures can offer both broadband absorption enhancement and customizable spectral response for different photoactive materials 4,[17][18][19] . However, very expensive fabrication processes are typically needed to create these disordered, subwavelength patterns suitable for light trapping in photonic devices.…”

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confidence: 99%

Repurposing Blu-ray movie discs as quasi-random nanoimprinting templates for photon management

et al. 2014

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Quasi-random nanostructures have attracted significant interests for photon management purposes. To optimize such patterns, typically very expensive fabrication processes are needed to create the pre-designed, subwavelength nanostructures. While quasi-random photonic nanostructures are abundant in nature (for example, in structural coloration), interestingly, they also exist in Blu-ray movie discs, an already mass-produced consumer product. Here we uncover that Blu-ray disc patterns are surprisingly well suited for light-trapping applications. While the algorithms in the Blu-ray industrial standard were developed with the intention of optimizing data compression and error tolerance, they have also created quasi-random arrangement of islands and pits on the final media discs that are nearly optimized for photon management over the solar spectrum, regardless of the information stored on the discs. As a proof-of-concept, imprinting polymer solar cells with the Blu-ray patterns indeed increases their efficiencies. Simulation suggests that Blu-ray patterns could be broadly applied for solar cells made of other materials.

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Optimized Spatial Correlations for Broadband Light Trapping Nanopatterns in High Efficiency Ultrathin Film a-Si:H Solar Cells

Cited by 355 publications

References 30 publications

Ultrathin Organic Solar Cells with a Power Conversion Efficiency of Over ≈13.0%, Based on the Spatial Corrugation of the Metal Electrode–Cathode Fabry–Perot Cavity

Ultrathin Organic Solar Cells with a Power Conversion Efficiency of Over ≈13.0%, Based on the Spatial Corrugation of the Metal Electrode–Cathode Fabry–Perot Cavity

Optimization of non-periodic plasmonic light-trapping layers for thin-film solar cells

Repurposing Blu-ray movie discs as quasi-random nanoimprinting templates for photon management

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