Efficiency enhancement of an ultra-thin film silicon solar cell using conical-shaped nanoparticles: similar to superposition (top, middle, and bottom)

Abstract

The use of conical-shaped plasmonic nanostructures for light management in an ultra-thin silicon solar cell has been investigated. The optical absorption and hence photocurrent are obtained for several cases of structures using finite difference time domain simulations. In this paper, we demonstrate that the use of superposition theorem causes significant photocurrent enhancement due to the surface plasmonic effects of nanoparticles. For this, at first, we used one conical-shaped nanoparticle at the top side, then in the rear side, and finally, three nanoparticles are used in the top, bottom, and middle sides. Depending on the incident light wavelength, each nanoparticle manipulates the part of the spectrum. The photocurrents of 9.165, 10.463, 16.402, 17.761, and 18.072 mA/cm2, are obtained for a cell without nanoparticles, with one conical-shaped NP at the top, with one conical-shaped NP at the bottom, with two NPs at top and bottom and with three NPs at the top, bottom, and middle, respectively. Finally, the electrical field distribution and generation rate are calculated for proposed structures.