Photocurrent improvement of an ultra-thin silicon solar cell using cascaded cylindrical shape plasmonic nanoparticles

The main aim of this research work is to significantly improve the photocurrent of an ultra-thin silicon solar cell. Here, cylindrical shape cascaded plasmonic nanoparticles are used to design an ultra-thin silicon solar cell. The main idea is to manipulate the absorption spectra of a thin absorber by applying four cascaded cylindrical shape nanoparticles from different materials with different radii and heights. At first, a cell with one nanoparticle at the surface and another one with a nanoparticle at the bottom side are simulated, and their photocurrents are determined. Then, a cell with four cascaded Ag, Al, Ag-Al, and Al-Ag nanoparticles is simulated. The maximum photocurrent density and efficiency of 23.46 mA cm(-2) and 13.95%, respectively, are obtained for a cell in which Ag and Al's nanoparticles are used alternatively from top to bottom. The photocurrent density is 8.2 mA cm(-2) for a cell without any nanoparticles. The simulated results show that cascaded nanoparticles significantly enhance the photocurrent. Finally, the generation rate is presented at different wavelengths.

Automated summary

The research significantly improves the photocurrent of an ultra-thin silicon solar cell by designing it with cascaded plasmonic nanoparticles, which are shown to enhance the photocurrent significantly according to simulation results.