Nano-Photonic Structures for Light Trapping in Ultra-Thin Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells
IR@NPL: CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi
View Archive Info| Field | Value | |
| Title |
Nano-Photonic Structures for Light Trapping in Ultra-Thin Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells
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| Creator |
Pathi, Prathap
Peer, Akshit Biswas, Rana |
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| Subject |
Materials Science
Nanoscience/ Nanotechnology |
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| Description |
Thick wafer-silicon is the dominant solar cell technology. It is of great interest to develop ultra-thin solar cells that can reduce materials usage, but still achieve acceptable performance and high solar absorption. Accordingly, we developed a highly absorbing ultra-thin crystalline Si based solar cell architecture using periodically patterned front and rear dielectric nanocone arrays which provide enhanced light trapping. The rear nanocones are embedded in a silver back reflector. In contrast to previous approaches, we utilize dielectric photonic crystals with a completely flat silicon absorber layer, providing expected high electronic quality and low carrier recombination. This architecture creates a dense mesh of wave-guided modes at near-infrared wavelengths in the absorber layer, generating enhanced absorption. For thin silicon (<2 m) and 750 nm pitch arrays, scattering matrix simulations predict enhancements exceeding 90%. Absorption approaches the Lambertian limit at small thicknesses (<10 m) and is slightly lower (by similar to 5%) at wafer-scale thicknesses. Parasitic losses are similar to 25% for ultra-thin (2 m) silicon and just 1%-2% for thicker (>100 m) cells. There is potential for 20 m thick cells to provide 30 mA/cm(2) photo-current and >20% efficiency. This architecture has great promise for ultra-thin silicon solar panels with reduced material utilization and enhanced light-trapping.
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| Publisher |
MDPI
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| Date |
2017-01
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| Type |
Article
PeerReviewed |
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| Format |
application/pdf
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| Identifier |
http://npl.csircentral.net/2802/1/Nano-Photonic%20Structures%20for%20Light%20Trapping%20in%20Ultra-Thin%20Crystalline%20Silicon%20Solar%20Cells.pdf
Pathi, Prathap and Peer, Akshit and Biswas, Rana (2017) Nano-Photonic Structures for Light Trapping in Ultra-Thin Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells. Nanomaterials, 7 (1). pp. 1-16. ISSN 2079-4991 |
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| Relation |
http://npl.csircentral.net/2802/
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