Enhanced absorption in optically thin solar cells by scattering from embedded dielectric nanoparticles

被引：94

作者：

Nagel, James R. ^{[1
]}

Scarpulla, Michael A. ^{[1
,2
]}

机构：

[1] Univ Utah, Dept Elect & Comp Engn, Salt Lake City, UT 84112 USA

[2] Univ Utah, Dept Mat Sci & Engn, Salt Lake City, UT 84112 USA

来源：

OPTICS EXPRESS | 2010年 / 18卷 / 13期

关键词：

702.3 Solar Cells - 708.1 Dielectric Materials - 741.1 Light/Optics - 804 Chemical Products Generally - 813.2 Coating Materials - 921 Mathematics - 931.3 Atomic and Molecular Physics;

D O I：

10.1364/OE.18.00A139

中图分类号：

O43 [光学];

学科分类号：

070207 ; 0803 ;

摘要：

We present a concept for improving the efficiency of thin-film solar cells via scattering from dielectric particles. The particles are embedded directly within the semiconductor absorber material with sizes on the order of one wavelength. Importantly, this geometry is fully compatible with the use of an anti-reflective coating (ARC) to maximize light capture. The concept is demonstrated through finite-difference time domain (FDTD) simulations of spherical SiO2 particles embedded within a 1.0 mu m layer of crystalline silicon (c-Si) utilizing a 75 nm ARC of Si3N4. Several geometries are presented, with gains in absorbed photon flux occurring in the red end of the spectrum where silicon absorption is weak. The total integrated absorption of incident photon flux across the visible AM-1.5 spectrum is on the order of 5-10% greater than the same geometry without any dielectric scatterers. (C) 2010 Optical Society of America

引用

页码：A139 / A146

页数：8

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