Modeling of optimum light absorption in random plasmonic solar cell using effective medium theory

Abstract

Random plasmonic nanostructures are very suitable candidates for light trapping in thin film solar cells because of their ability of efficient transportation and localization of light in a broad spectrum. In this work, besides the introducing of a novel structure of plasmonic thin-film solar cell, in which metal nanoparticles are randomly distributed through the photoactive layer of solar cell, we are presenting a new simple calculation method which can predict the behavior of plasmonic solar cells.To avoid the difficulty of analytical calculation and due to small size of constituents of the structure, we have used the effective medium theory to describe its optical properties. We have used a general description of effective dielectric function that can support each effective medium theory named spectral density theory, which takes into account the percolation of metal component and also interaction among inclusions. Using this method, the optimum values of nanoparticle's filling fraction for each wavelength within the active layer can be found where the solar cell can have the maximum absorption of light, thereupon the optimum external quantum efficiency.