Design of a plasmonic back reflector for silicon nanowire decorated solar cells

Rui Ren; Yongxin Guo; Rihong Zhu

doi:10.1364/OL.37.004245

Design of a plasmonic back reflector for silicon nanowire decorated solar cells

Opt Lett. 2012 Oct 15;37(20):4245-7. doi: 10.1364/OL.37.004245.

Authors

Rui Ren¹, Yongxin Guo, Rihong Zhu

Affiliation

¹ School of Electronic Engineering and Optoelectronic Techniques, Nanjing University of Science & Technology, Nanjing 210094, China.

PMID: 23073425
DOI: 10.1364/OL.37.004245

Abstract

This Letter presents a crystalline silicon thin film solar cell model with Si nanowire arrays surface decoration and metallic nanostructure patterns on the back reflector. The nanostructured Ag back reflector can significantly enhance the absorption in the near-infrared spectrum. Furthermore, by inserting a ZnO:Al layer between the silicon substrate and nanostructured Ag back reflector, the absorption loss in the Ag back reflector can be clearly depressed, contributing to a maximum J(sc) of 28.4 mA/cm(2). A photocurrent enhancement of 22% is achieved compared with a SiNW solar cell with a planar Ag back reflector.