Pathi, Prathap and Peer, Akshit and Biswas, Rana (2017) Nano-Photonic Structures for Light Trapping in Ultra-Thin Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells. Nanomaterials, 7 (1). pp. 1-16. ISSN 2079-4991

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Abstract

Thick wafer-silicon is the dominant solar cell technology. It is of great interest to develop ultra-thin solar cells that can reduce materials usage, but still achieve acceptable performance and high solar absorption. Accordingly, we developed a highly absorbing ultra-thin crystalline Si based solar cell architecture using periodically patterned front and rear dielectric nanocone arrays which provide enhanced light trapping. The rear nanocones are embedded in a silver back reflector. In contrast to previous approaches, we utilize dielectric photonic crystals with a completely flat silicon absorber layer, providing expected high electronic quality and low carrier recombination. This architecture creates a dense mesh of wave-guided modes at near-infrared wavelengths in the absorber layer, generating enhanced absorption. For thin silicon (<2 m) and 750 nm pitch arrays, scattering matrix simulations predict enhancements exceeding 90%. Absorption approaches the Lambertian limit at small thicknesses (<10 m) and is slightly lower (by similar to 5%) at wafer-scale thicknesses. Parasitic losses are similar to 25% for ultra-thin (2 m) silicon and just 1%-2% for thicker (>100 m) cells. There is potential for 20 m thick cells to provide 30 mA/cm(2) photo-current and >20% efficiency. This architecture has great promise for ultra-thin silicon solar panels with reduced material utilization and enhanced light-trapping.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:
Subjects:	Materials Science Nanoscience/ Nanotechnology
Divisions:	UNSPECIFIED
Depositing User:	Users 27 not found.
Date Deposited:	12 Nov 2018 07:53
Last Modified:	12 Nov 2018 07:53
URI:	http://npl.csircentral.net/id/eprint/2802

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