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Highly absorbing solar cells—a survey of plasmonic nanostructures

Ricky B. Dunbar, Thomas Pfadler, and Lukas Schmidt-Mende

Open Access Open Access

Abstract

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.

©2012 Optical Society of America

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Figures (7)
Fig. 1
Fig. 1 (a) Standard (flat) solar cell architecture. The direction of incident light is indicated. (b–d) Three classes of plasmonic solar cells designed to achieve enhanced semiconductor light absorption.

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Fig. 2
Fig. 2 (a) Relevant geometry parameters for the simulations, shown here for the dispersed nanoparticle plasmonic solar cell. They can be similarly applied to the other two geometries. (b) Boundary conditions. (c–e) Absorption enhancement exhibited by plasmonic solar cells relative to a planar solar cell. The values are calculated by integrating semiconductor absorption spectra within the wavelength range 350-1000 nm with AM1.5G illumination intensity. (c) Dispersed nanoparticles. (d) Nanostructured electrode. (e) In-scattering nanoparticles.

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Fig. 3
Fig. 3 Absorption enhancement exhibited by plasmonic solar cells relative to a planar solar cell for TE-polarized light (a,c,e). Polarization-averaged absorption enhancement (b,d,f).

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Fig. 4
Fig. 4 Dependence of the active layer thickness on Aav for the dispersed nanoparticle and flat solar cells.

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Fig. 5
Fig. 5 Redistribution of incident light (TM polarized) for the dispersed NP (circles, NP width = 40 nm, period = 190 nm), nanostructured electrode (squares, NP width = 80 nm, period = 190 nm) and in-scattering NP (triangles, NP width = 40 nm, period = 190 nm) plasmonic solar cells and the flat solar cell (black line). (a) Absorption in organic semiconductor. (b) Reflectance. (c) Absorption in the nanoparticle. (d) Absorption in the electrode. Note for the nanostructured electrode, the absorption in the planar electrode and the (attached) nanoparticle are calculated separately.

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Fig. 6
Fig. 6 Spatial absorption profiles under TM polarization for selected wavelengths. (a,d): Dispersed nanoparticle solar cell (nanoparticle width = 40 nm, period = 190 nm) at wavelengths 470 nm (a) and 700 nm (d). (b,e) Nanostructured electrode (nanoparticle width = 80 nm, period = 190 nm) at wavelengths 470 nm (b) and 700 nm (e). (c) Flat solar cell at wavelength 470 nm. (f) In-scattering nanoparticle solar cell (nanoparticle width = 40 nm, period = 190 nm) at wavelength 360 nm. The color scale indicates the power dissipation density relative to the maximum in (a).

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Fig. 7
Fig. 7 (a) TM semiconductor absorption for a flat solar cell (black line) and dispersed nanoparticle plasmonic solar cells with silver (circles) and perfectly conducting nanoparticles (squares), period = 190 nm, nanoparticle width = 40 nm. (b) Spatial absorption profiles with a perfectly conducting nanoparticle at 700 nm. The color scale indicates the power dissipation density relative to the maximum in 6(a).

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Tables (1)

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Table 1 Optimized Plasmonic Solar Cell Geometries

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Equations (4)

Equations on this page are rendered with MathJax. Learn more.

∇×∇× E → − n 2 k 0 2 E → =0
∇×( 1 n 2 ∇× H → )− k 0 2 H → =0
A(λ)= 1 2 ∫ ω ε 2 | E → (x,y,λ) | 2 dV
A av = A TM + A TE 2
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