Efficient light trapping in tapered silicon nanohole arrays

We have proposed a novel Silicon solar cells with the tapered nanoholes arrays (TNHs) for the efficient light trapping. After the optimization of the structural parameters, we obtain an exciting value of ultimate conversion efficiency (UCE) about 28.6% for the TNHs structured solar cells with the thickness of active layer of only 1 mu m. And the performance of the TNHs solar cells is better than those of the existing cone shaped nanoholes arrays (CNNHs) and the pure nanoholes arrays (NHs). The Ag nanoparticles (Ag NPs) can be formed automatically during the process of manufacturing the Ag backreflector (AgBR) for the TNHs solar cells. We have also systematically investigated the influence of the structural parameters of Ag NPs to the performance of the solar cell, and the corresponding optimal UCE can reach to 30.1% nearly, which can serve as a practical guideline for designing plasmonic silicon solar cell. (C) 2015 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.