Influence of rear located silver nanoparticle induced light losses on the light trapping of silicon wafer-based solar cells

Management of the light losses associated with silver nanoparticle integrated plasmonic back reflectors in silicon wafer solar cells is critical to realize performance enhancement. The light losses, including the intrinsic absorption loss from silver nanoparticles and the additional absorption loss induced by the void plasmons in the aluminum reflectors, are quantitatively studied for cells with different front surface morphologies. The study reveals that silver nanoparticles are effective to enhance the photocurrent in cells with planar front surface, while the absorption enhancement can be significantly offset by the plasmonic losses in the textured cells, contributing to marginal or even decreased photocurrent. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.