Development of an Antireflection Layer Using a LDS Based on β-SiC Nanoparticles

Abstract

The main objective of this work is to use β-SiC (also called 3C-SiC) silicon carbide nanoparticles to formulate composite layer for wavelength conversion. Silicon Carbide nanopowders (npβ-SiC) were successfully synthesized by sol-gel method and followed by carbothermal reduction. Composite thin layers based on np-β-SiC incorporated into polyvinyl alcohol, (PVA) as matrix, where prepared. We have investigated the composite layers deposited silicon solar cell as a luminescent down shifting layer (LDS) to convert UV wavelengths. The texturation of the substrates by making pyramids, pyramids with nanowires was investigated in order to decrease the surface reflectance of silicon surface. An improvement in the spectral response of the obtained solar cells was very remarkable. In order to confirm this property, electro-optical characterizations were carried out on the solar cell with the developed composite layer and also on that without β-SiC/PVA coating, as reference. The morphological quality of the used substrates was examined by SEM images. EQE measurements have shown a noticeable increase showing the ability to use the prepared composite layer as lightweight encapsulation material for photovoltaic devices.