Electrical and optical performance of plasmonic silicon solar cells based on light scattering of silver and indium nanoparticles in matrix-combination.

This study demonstrates the efficacy of combining a matrix of silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) with indium nanoparticles (In-NPs) to improve the electric and optical performance of plasmonic silicon solar cells. We examined the excitation of localized surface plasmons of Ag-NPs and In-NPs using surface enhanced Raman scattering measurements. Optical reflectance and external quantum efficiency (EQE) measurements demonstrate that the light scattering of Ag-NPs at short wavelengths can be improved by surrounding them with In-NPs. This also leads to high EQE band matching in the high energy band of the AM1.5G solar energy spectrum. Impressive improvements in optical reflectance and EQE response were also observed at short wavelengths. Cells with a matrix of Ag-NPs (20% surface coverage) surrounded by In-NPs (80% surface coverage) increased the overall efficiency of the cell by 31.83%, as confirmed by photovoltaic current density-voltage characterization under AM 1.5 G illumination.

Performance-Enhanced Textured Silicon Solar Cells Based on Plasmonic Light Scattering Using Silver and Indium Nanoparticles.

Performances of textured crystalline-silicon (c-Si) solar cells enhanced by silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) and indium nanoparticles (In-NPs) plasmonic effects are experimentally demonstrated and compared. Plasmonic nanoparticles integrated into textured c-Si solar cells can further increase the absorption and enhance the short-circuit current density (Jsc) of the solar cell. To examine the profile of the proposed metallic particles, the average diameter and coverage of the In-NPs (Ag-NPs) at 17.7 nm (19.07 nm) and 30.5% (35.1%), respectively, were obtained using scanning electron microscopy. Optical reflectance and external quantum efficiency response were used to measure plasmonic light scattering at various wavelengths. Compared to a bare reference cell, the application of In-NPs increased the Jsc of the cells by 8.64% (from 30.32 to 32.94 mA/cm²), whereas the application of Ag-NPs led to an increase of 4.71% (from 30.32 to 31.75 mA/cm²). The conversion efficiency of cells with embedded In-NPs (14.85%) exceeded that of cells with embedded Ag-NPs (14.32%), which can be attributed to the broadband plasmonic light scattering of the In-NPs.

External quantum efficiency response of thin silicon solar cell based on plasmonic scattering of indium and silver nanoparticles.

This study characterized the plasmonic scattering effects of indium nanoparticles (In NPs) on the front surface and silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) on the rear surface of a thin silicon solar cell according to external quantum efficiency (EQE) and photovoltaic current-voltage. The EQE response indicates that, at wavelengths of 300 to 800 nm, the ratio of the number of photo-carriers collected to the number of incident photons shining on a thin Si solar cell was enhanced by the In NPs, and at wavelengths of 1,000 to 1,200 nm, by the Ag NPs. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of combining the broadband plasmonic scattering of two metals in enhancing the overall photovoltaic performance of a thin silicon solar cell. Short-circuit current was increased by 31.88% (from 2.98 to 3.93 mA) and conversion efficiency was increased by 32.72% (from 9.81% to 13.02%), compared to bare thin Si solar cells.

Performance enhancement of ITO/oxide/semiconductor MOS-structure silicon solar cells with voltage biasing.

In this study, we demonstrate the photovoltaic performance enhancement of a p-n junction silicon solar cell using a transparent-antireflective ITO/oxide film deposited on the spacing of the front-side finger electrodes and with a DC voltage applied on the ITO-electrode. The depletion width of the p-n junction under the ITO-electrode was induced and extended while the absorbed volume and built-in electric field were also increased when the biasing voltage was increased. The photocurrent and conversion efficiency were increased because more photo-carriers are generated in a larger absorbed volume and because the carriers transported and collected more effectively due to higher biasing voltage effects. Compared to a reference solar cell (which was biased at 0 V), a conversion efficiency enhancement of 26.57% (from 12.42% to 15.72%) and short-circuit current density enhancement of 42.43% (from 29.51 to 42.03 mA/cm(2)) were obtained as the proposed MOS-structure solar cell biased at 2.5 V. In addition, the capacitance-volt (C-V) measurement was also used to examine the mechanism of photovoltaic performance enhancement due to the depletion width being enlarged by applying a DC voltage on an ITO-electrode.