Surface Plasmon Enhanced Light Trapping in Metal/Silicon Nanobowl Arrays for Thin Film Photovoltaics

Abstract

Enhancing the light absorption in thin film silicon solar cells with nanophotonic and plasmonic structures is important for the realization of high efficiency solar cells with significant cost reduction. In this work, we investigate periodic arrays of conformal metal/silicon nanobowl arrays (MSNBs) for light trapping applications in silicon solar cells. They exhibited excellent lightharvesting ability across a wide range of wavelengths up to infrared regimes. The optimized structure (MSNBsH) covered by SiO 2 passivation layer and hemisphere Ag back reflection layer has a maximal short-circuit density ( sc ) 25.5 mA/cm 2 , which is about 88.8% higher than flat structure counterpart, and the light-conversion efficiency ( ) is increased two times from 6.3% to 12.6%. The double-side textures offer a promising approach to high efficiency ultrathin silicon solar cells.

SPR-Enhanced Fluorescence of Solid Organic Dye Films

“…Maintaining a certain space and structure between Ag particles and dye molecules has a positive effect on SPR [19], by designing a rational model. SPR can be a powerful means to enhance the optical properties of commercially available luminescent dyes [14,20].…”