Abstract
The influence of the Au nanoparticle density on the performance of single-junction GaAs solar cells has been investigated. The single-junction GaAs solar cells are grown on (100) GaAs substrates by using a low-pressure metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) system. Au nanoparticles are dispersed on the surfaces of the cells by micro-pipetted casting and the density of the dispersed nanoparticles varies from 4.7 × 109 to 4.3 × 1010 cm−2. The conversion efficiencies of the GaAs solar cells are observed to depend strongly on the Au nanoparticle densities. For Au nanoparticle densities lower than 2.8 × 1010 cm−2, the conversion efficiency improvement of the GaAs solar cells mainly originates from the antireflection coating effect. In contrast, for the sample with a Au nanoparticle density of 2.8 × 1010 cm−2, the antireflection effect decreases due to the shadow effect and the local field enhancement effect due to the Au nanoparticles starts to be effective. The GaAs solar cell with a Au nanoparticle density of 1.9 × 1010 cm−2 shows a maximum conversion enhancement compared to that of the reference sample.
Published Version
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