Si/PEDOT:PSS hybrid solar cells incorporated with silver plasmonic nanospheres

We study the incorporation of periodic silver nanospheres on planar hybrid Si/PEDOT:PSS solar cell for absorption enhancement based on the plasmonic effect. The impact of the periodicity and diameter of the silver nanospheres on the light absorption of the hybrid cell is systematically simulated using the finite elementmethod. The light absorption is found to improve significantly in the presence of the silver nanospheres, achieving a maximum ultimate efficiency of 22.6% when the periodicity is 600 nm and the nanosphere diameter to periodicity ratio is 0.45. This is 23.8% higher than that of the planar hybrid thin cell without the silver nanospheres. The physics behind the enhanced light absorption in the hybrid cell arising from the introduction of periodic silver nanospheres is also discussed. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.