Related papers: Nanoantennas for enhanced light trapping in transp…
We suggest a novel concept of efficient light-trapping structures for thin-film solar cells based on arrays of planar nanoantennas operating far from plasmonic resonances. The operation principle of our structures relies on the excitation…
We report on the fabrication of two-dimensional periodic photonic nanostructures by nanoimprint lithography and dry etching, and their integration into a 1-{\mu}m-thin mono-crystalline silicon solar cell. Thanks to the periodic…
Nano-scaled metallic or dielectric structures may provide various ways to trap light into thin-film solar cells for improving the conversion efficiency. In most schemes, the textured active layers are involved into light trapping structures…
Light trapping for solar cells can reduce production cost and improve energy conversion efficiency. Understanding some of the basic theoretical constraints on light trapping is therefore of fundamental importance. Here, we develop a general…
We describe surface patterning strategies that permit high photon-collection efficiency together with high carrier-collection efficiency in an ultra-thin planar heterojunction organic photovoltaic cell. Optimized designs reach up to 50%…
Light trapping in solar cells allows for increased current and voltage, as well as reduced materials cost. It is known that in geometrical optics, a maximum 4n^2 absorption enhancement factor can be achieved by randomly texturing the…
We propose a back-reflecting scheme in order to enhance the maximum achievable current in one micron thick crystalline silicon solar cells. We perform 3-dimensional numerical investigations of the scattering properties of metallic…
Simulations of metal nanopatterns embedded in a thin photovoltaic absorber show significantly enhanced absorbance within the semiconductor, with a more than 300% increase for {\lambda} = 800 nm. Integrating with AM1.5 solar irradiation,…
Nano-scaled dielectric and metallic structures are popular light tapping structures in thin-film solar cells. However, a large parasitic absorption in those structures is unavoidable. Most schemes based on such structures also involve the…
The optical absorption of nanoscale thickness semiconductor films on top of light-trapping structures based on optical interference effects combined with spectrum-splitting structures is theoretically investigated. Nearly perfect absorption…
The optical and electrical properties of optically-thin one-dimensional (1D) Ag nanogratings and two-dimensional (2D) Ag nanogrids are studied, and their use as transparent electrodes in organic photovoltaics are explored. A large broadband…
The design and fabrication of a metal-dielectric-metal absorber that achieves strong absorption from the ultraviolet (UV) to the near-infrared (near-IR) spectrum are presented. The proposed nanostructure consists of a periodic titanium (Ti)…
In this paper, we present a theoretical study on the absorption efficiency enhancement of a thin film amorphous Silicon (a-Si) photovoltaic cell over a broad spectrum of wavelengths using multiple nanoparticle arrays. The light absorption…
The ability to absorb light is indispensable for high efficient solar power generation. This places conflicting requirements on the structure of a solar cell: On one hand, it needs to have thick active layers to absorb more of the available…
Understanding the maximal enhancement of solar absorption in semiconductor materials by light trapping promises the development of affordable solar cells. However, the conventional Lambertian limit is only valid for idealized material…
Multi-junction solar cells provide a path to overcome the efficiency limits of standard silicon solar cells by harvesting more efficiently a broader range of the solar spectrum. However, Si-based multi-junction architectures are hindered by…
A functionally graded Al-doped ZnO structure is presented which combines conductivity, visible transparency and light scattering with mechanical flexibility. The nano and meso-architecture, constituted by a hierarchical, large surface area,…
A film-coupled metamaterial structure is numerically investigated for enhancing the light absorption in an ultrathin photovoltaic layer of crystalline gallium arsenide (GaAs). The top subwavelength concave grating and the bottom metallic…
Solar cells have generated a lot of interest as a potential source of clean renewable energy for the future. However a big bottleneck in wide scale deployment of these energy sources remain the low efficiency of these conversion devices.…
The absorption of thin hydrogenated amorphous silicon layers can be efficiently enhanced through a controlled periodic patterning. Light is trapped through coupling with photonic Bloch modes of the periodic structures, which act as an…