Enhanced optical absorption by Ag nanoparticles in a thin film Si solar cell

Thin film solar cells have the potential to significantly reduce the cost of photovoltaics. Light trapping is crucial to such a thin film silicon solar cell because of a low absorption coefficient due to its indirect band gap. In this paper, we investigate the suitability of surface plasmon resonanc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inChinese physics B Vol. 22; no. 4; pp. 330 - 333
Main Author 陈凤翔 汪礼胜 许文英
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published 01.04.2013
Subjects
Ag纳米粒子
Equivalence
Nanoparticles
Photovoltaic cells
Silicon
Silver
Solar cells
Surface chemistry
Thin films
Transmittance
光吸收
硅太阳能电池
粒子增强
薄膜太阳能电池
表面等离子体共振
银纳米粒子
防反射膜
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Summary:Thin film solar cells have the potential to significantly reduce the cost of photovoltaics. Light trapping is crucial to such a thin film silicon solar cell because of a low absorption coefficient due to its indirect band gap. In this paper, we investigate the suitability of surface plasmon resonance Ag nanoparticles for enhancing optical absorption in the thin film solar cell. For evaluating the transmittance capability of Ag nanoparticles and the conventional antireflection film, an enhanced transmittance factor is introduced. We find that under the solar spectrum AM1.5, the transmittance of Ag nanoparticles with radius over 160 nm is equivalent to that of conventional textured antireflection film, and its effect is better than that of the planar antireflection film. The influence of the surrounding medium is also discussed.
Bibliography:transmittance; surface plasmon resonance; Ag nanoparticles; thin film solar cells
Chen Feng-Xiang , Wang Li-Sheng, Xu Wen-Ying （Department of Physics Science and Technology, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China）
11-5639/O4
Thin film solar cells have the potential to significantly reduce the cost of photovoltaics. Light trapping is crucial to such a thin film silicon solar cell because of a low absorption coefficient due to its indirect band gap. In this paper, we investigate the suitability of surface plasmon resonance Ag nanoparticles for enhancing optical absorption in the thin film solar cell. For evaluating the transmittance capability of Ag nanoparticles and the conventional antireflection film, an enhanced transmittance factor is introduced. We find that under the solar spectrum AM1.5, the transmittance of Ag nanoparticles with radius over 160 nm is equivalent to that of conventional textured antireflection film, and its effect is better than that of the planar antireflection film. The influence of the surrounding medium is also discussed.
ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:1674-1056
2058-3834
1741-4199
DOI:10.1088/1674-1056/22/4/045202