Efficient optical absorption in thin-film solar cells

Period-mismatched sine dual-interface grating for optical absorption in silicon thin-film solar cells

Crystalline silicon thin-film solar cells with period-mismatched sine dual-interface gratings are proposed. Several structural parameters of the front and rear gratings, such as heights, periods, and duty ratios, are optimized using the finite-difference time-domain method. The mechanisms of absorption enhancement are also illustrated by analyzing the optical and electrical performance in thin-film solar cells with different grating arrangements. Numerical results indicate that the period-mismatched sine dual-interface grating structure shows obvious improvement in absorption efficiency and is more suitable for grating structures with small period. The short-circuit current density of the period-mismatched dual-interface sine grating structure is improved to 18.89mA/cm², an increase of 41.39% as compared with the planar structure. The research findings can be utilized to guide the design of grating structures for thin-film solar cells.

Plasmonic and photonic scattering and near fields of nanoparticles

We theoretically compare the scattering and near field of nanoparticles from different types of materials, each characterized by specific optical properties that determine the interaction with light: metals with their free charge carriers giving rise to plasmon resonances, dielectrics showing zero absorption in wide wavelength ranges, and semiconductors combining the two beforehand mentioned properties plus a band gap. Our simulations are based on Mie theory and on full 3D calculations of Maxwell's equations with the finite element method. Scattering and absorption cross sections, their division into the different order electric and magnetic modes, electromagnetic near field distributions around the nanoparticles at various wavelengths as well as angular distributions of the scattered light were investigated. The combined information from these calculations will give guidelines for choosing adequate nanoparticles when aiming at certain scattering properties. With a special focus on the integration into thin film solar cells, we will evaluate our results.

Role of surface recombination in affecting the efficiency of nanostructured thin-film solar cells

Nanostructured light trapping is a promising way to improve the efficiency in thin-film solar cells recently. In this work, both the optical and electrical properties of thin-film solar cells with 1D periodic grating structure are investigated by using photoelectric coupling model. It is found that surface recombination plays a key role in determining the performance of nanostructured thin-film solar cells. Once the recombination effect is considered, the higher optical absorption does not mean the higher conversion efficiency as most existing publications claimed. Both the surface recombination velocity and geometric parameters of structure have great impact on the efficiency of thin-film solar cells. Our simulation results indicate that nanostructured light trapping will not only improve optical absorption but also boost the surface recombination simultaneously. Therefore, we must get the tradeoffs between optical absorption and surface recombination to obtain the maximum conversion efficiency. Our work makes it clear that both the optical absorption and electrical recombination response should be taken into account simultaneously in designing the nanostructured thin-film solar cells.

Role of surface metal nanoparticles on the absorption in solar cells

The effect of absorption enhancement with metallic nanoparticles on solar cell surfaces is often confused with various optical processes. In this work, the effective absorption rates in the active materials of solar cells are explicitly calculated including all possible factors. The results show that, although the total absorption is highly enhanced in general, the effective absorption in the active region is not much enhanced and even strongly reduced in the blue-violet regime. As the solar spectrum is considered, the integrated absorbed power in the solar cell materials is shown to be similar for structures with or without metallic nanoparticles.

Simulation and optimization of 1-D periodic dielectric nanostructures for light-trapping

Light-trapping is essential to improve the performance of thin-film solar cells. In this paper, we perform a parametric optimization of 1-D square and sinusoidal grating structures that act as nanophotonic scatterers to increase light absorption in ultra-thin (10nm) solar cells. Our optimization reveals that the short-circuit current density in a device of active-layer thickness 10nm can be improved by a factor of ~5 in the presence of the scattering structure. More complex geometries allow for increased degrees of design freedom and potentially high enhancement of light absorption.

Mechanism of optical absorption enhancement in thin film organic solar cells with plasmonic metal nanoparticles

The optical absorption enhancement in thin film organic solar cells (OSCs) with plasmonic metal nanoparticles (NPs) has been studied by means of finite element method with a three-dimension model. It is found that significant plasmonic enhancement of above 100% can be obtained by introducing Ag-NPs at the interface between P3HT:PCBM active layer and PEDOT:PSS anode layer. This enhancement is even larger than that with Ag-NPs totally embedded in the P3HT:PCBM active layer of thin film OSCs. Furthermore, the enhancement mechanism of Ag-NPs at different positions of thin film OSCs is investigated.