Investigation of the effect of plasmonic Au nanoparticles on crystalline Si solar cells

Abstract

In order to increase the photocurrent of tandem solar cells with a silicon (Si) solar cell as the bottom cell, we investigate the relationship between the localized surface plasmon resonance effect of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and the arrangement of AuNPs onto solar cells. AuNPs were deposited on P-type crystalline Si (c-Si) cells and Si heterojunction (SHJ) type cells. To obtain the localized surface plasmon resonance effect, the shape, size, and arrangement of the nanostructures are important. Especially, arrangement of AuNPs onto solar cells was inquired in this study because these parameters must be adjusted appropriately to produce a plasmon resonance in a specific wavelength range. It was found that the plasmon resonance effect is significant when deposited on the surface of c-Si cell rather than on top of the Ag electrode. AuNPs deposition on the c-Si cell surface leads to not only the localized surface plasmon resonance effect but also improvement in charge transport between the c-Si cell surface and Ag electrode. However, in the SHJ-type cells, the plasmon resonance effect was not observed because the surface layer was composed of a W-doped In2O3 (IWO) layer.