Journal
ACS NANO
Volume 5, Issue 8, Pages 6218-6225Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/nn201074z
Keywords
ultrathin plasmonic solar cells; nanocomposites; 2D photovoltaics; amorphous hydrogenated silicon; figure of merit
Categories
Funding
- Swedish Energy Agency [0189-1]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Nanocomposite layers of Ag nanoparticles and a-SI:H film constitute attractive candidates for the realization of ultrathin two-dimensional plasmonic solar cells, with an ideal 18% efficiency predicted for an average layer thickness of only 20 nm. By combining optical spectroscopy with photoconductivity measurements, we here characterize different contributions to the light absorption and charge carrier generation in such nanocomposites. We focus in particular on the important role of the absorber layer thickness for these processes, by studying a range of a-Si:H thicknesses from 9 to 67 nm. Through detailed comparison with numerical calculations by the finite element method, observed experimental features are connected to specific resonance modes and charge carrier generation mechanisms. The influence of dipolar and quadrupolar near-field distributions are evaluated with respect to different figures of merit for plasmonic solar cells. We briefly discuss how the present findings may be implemented in practical solar cell configurations.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available