Investigation of the impact of the rear-dielectric/silver back reflector design on the optical performance of thin-film silicon solar cells by means of detached reflectors

2013 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 1236-1247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Etienne Moulin ◽  
Ulrich Wilhelm Paetzold ◽  
Karsten Bittkau ◽  
Jorj Owen ◽  
Joachim Kirchhoff ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Solar Cells ◽  
Silicon Solar Cells ◽  
Optical Performance ◽  
Thin Film Silicon ◽  
Back Reflector ◽  
The Impact

Analysis of thin-film silicon solar cells with plasma textured front surface and multi-layer porous silicon back reflector

2010 ◽  
Vol 94 (5) ◽  
pp. 850-856 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moustafa Y. Ghannam ◽  
Ahmed A. Abouelsaood ◽  
Abdulazeez S. Alomar ◽  
Jef Poortmans
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Solar Cells ◽  
Porous Silicon ◽  
Front Surface ◽  
Silicon Solar Cells ◽  
Thin Film Silicon ◽  
Back Reflector

Light-trapping in Thin Film Silicon Solar Cells with a Combination of Periodic and Randomly Textured Back-reflectors

2012 ◽  
Vol 1426 ◽  
pp. 117-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sambit Pattnaik ◽  
Nayan Chakravarty ◽  
Rana Biswas ◽  
D. Slafer ◽  
Vikram Dalal
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Solar Cells ◽  
Light Absorption ◽  
Nanoimprint Lithography ◽  
Light Trapping ◽  
Silicon Solar Cells ◽  
Long Wavelength ◽  
Thin Film Silicon ◽  
Back Reflectors ◽  
Back Reflector

ABSTRACTLight trapping is essential to harvest long wavelength red and near-infrared photons in thin film silicon solar cells. Traditionally light trapping has been achieved with a randomly roughened Ag/ZnO back reflector, which scatters incoming light uniformly through all angles, and enhances currents and cell efficiencies over a flat back reflector. A new approach using periodically textured photonic-plasmonic arrays has been recently shown to be very promising for harvesting long wavelength photons, through diffraction of light and plasmonic light concentration. Here we investigate the combination of these two approaches of random scattering and plasmonic effects to increase cell performance even further. An array of periodic conical back reflectors was fabricated by nanoimprint lithography and coated with Ag. These back reflectors were systematically annealed to generate different amounts of random texture, at smaller spatial scales, superimposed on a larger scale periodic texture. nc-Si solar cells were grown on flat, periodic photonic-plasmonic substrates, and randomly roughened photonic-plasmonic substrates. There were large improvements (>20%) in the current and light absorption of the photonic-plasmonic substrates relative to flat. The additional random features introduced on the photonic-plasmonic substrates did not improve the current and light absorption further, over a large range of randomization features.

scholarly journals Disorder Improves Light Absorption in Thin Film Silicon Solar Cells with Hybrid Light Trapping Structure

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanpeng Shi ◽  
Xiaodong Wang ◽  
Fuhua Yang
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Solar Cells ◽  
Periodic Structures ◽  
Light Trapping ◽  
Random Effect ◽  
Large Field ◽  
Silicon Solar Cells ◽  
Trapping Effect ◽  
Thin Film Silicon ◽  
The Impact

We present a systematic simulation study on the impact of disorder in thin film silicon solar cells with hybrid light trapping structure. For the periodical structures introducing certain randomness in some parameters, the nanophotonic light trapping effect is demonstrated to be superior to their periodic counterparts. The nanophotonic light trapping effect can be associated with the increased modes induced by the structural disorders. Our study is a systematic proof that certain disorder is conceptually an advantage for nanophotonic light trapping concepts in thin film solar cells. The result is relevant to the large field of research on nanophotonic light trapping which currently investigates and prototypes a number of new concepts including disordered periodic and quasiperiodic textures. The random effect on the shape of the pattern (position, height, and radius) investigated in this paper could be a good approach to estimate the influence of experimental inaccuracies for periodic or quasi-periodic structures.

Combined Optical and Electrical Design of Plasmonic Back Reflector for High-Efficiency Thin-Film Silicon Solar Cells

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hairen Tan ◽  
Rudi Santbergen ◽  
Guangtao Yang ◽  
Arno H. M. Smets ◽  
Miro Zeman
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Solar Cells ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Silicon Solar Cells ◽  
Thin Film Silicon ◽  
Back Reflector
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