Highly absorbing solar cells-a survey of plasmonic nanostructures

作者:Dunbar Ricky B*; Pfadler Thomas; Schmidt Mende Lukas
来源:Optics Express, 2012, 20(6): A177-A189.
DOI:10.1364/OE.20.00A177

摘要

Plasmonic light trapping in thin film solar cells is investigated using full-wave electromagnetic simulations. Light absorption in the semiconductor layer with three standard plasmonic solar cell geometries is compared to absorption in a flat layer. We identify near-field absorption enhancement due to the excitation of localized surface plasmons but find that it is not necessary for strong light trapping in these configurations: significant enhancements are also found if the real metal is replaced by a perfect conductor, where scattering is the only available enhancement mechanism. The absorption in a 60 nm thick organic semiconductor film is found to be enhanced by up to 19% using dispersed silver nanoparticles, and up to 13% using a nanostructured electrode. External in-scattering nanoparticles strongly limit semiconductor absorption via back-reflection.

  • 出版日期2012-3-12