Plasmon-Enhanced Sunlight Harvesting in Thin-Film Solar Cell by Randomly Distributed Nanoparticle Array.

Marwa M Tharwat,Ashwag Almalki,Amr M Mahros

doi:10.3390/ma14061380

Marwa M Tharwat, Ashwag Almalki + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14061380

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Abstract

In this paper, a randomly distributed plasmonic aluminum nanoparticle array is introduced on the top surface of conventional GaAs thin-film solar cells to improve sunlight harvesting. The performance of such photovoltaic structures is determined through monitoring the modification of its absorbance due to changing its structural parameters. A single Al nanoparticle array is integrated over the antireflective layer to boost the absorption spectra in both visible and near-infra-red regimes. Furthermore, the planar density of the plasmonic layer is presented as a crucial parameter in studying and investigating the performance of the solar cells. Then, we have introduced a double Al nanoparticle array as an imperfection from the regular uniform single array as it has different size particles and various spatial distributions. The comparison of performances was established using the enhancement percentage in the absorption. The findings illustrate that the structural parameters of the reported solar cell, especially the planar density of the plasmonic layer, have significant impacts on tuning solar energy harvesting. Additionally, increasing the plasmonic planar density enhances the absorption in the visible region. On the other hand, the absorption in the near-infrared regime becomes worse, and vice versa.

Highlights

In the recent decade, the achievement of cheap, inexhaustible energy, and clean sources has been an area of great interest for many researchers all over the world [1]
We comprehensively investigate the optical properties of the thin film plasmonic solar cell by solving Maxwell’s equations of different materials using the finite difference time domain (FDTD) algorithm (OptiFDTD simulation tool from Optiwave Inc., Ottawa, ON, Canada) [34]
The plasmonic Al nanoparticle array on the top of indium tin oxide (ITO) layer is utilized to boost solar energy harvesting of the thin film GaAs solar cells adjudged by coupling of incident sunlight and plasmonic modes

Summary

Introduction

The achievement of cheap, inexhaustible energy, and clean sources has been an area of great interest for many researchers all over the world [1]. The photovoltaic solar cell plays an important role among a wide range of renewable resources as an environmentally friendly energy source compared with fossil fuels [2]. The cost of solar cells needs to be lessened due to silicon as a bulk active material, processing, and packaging. A huge part of the sunlight is misdirected and is not fully absorbed by the active layer and employed. This leads to a high cost of photovoltaic modules. Absorption of light within the photoactive layer can be boosted by increasing the optical path length within the cell and reflection reduction on the front surface. A considerable amount of theoretical and experimental work has proposed a variety of light-trapping techniques, such as refractive index matching [4], surface texturing [5], diffraction gratings [6], antireflection coatings [7], photonic crystals [8], nanostructures [9], and metallic nanoparticles [10]

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