scholarly journals The tradeoff between plasmonic enhancement and optical loss in silicon nanowire solar cells integrated in a metal back reflector

2012 ◽  
Vol 20 (S5) ◽  
pp. A777 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keya Zhou ◽  
Zhongyi Guo ◽  
Xiaopeng Li ◽  
Jin-Young Jung ◽  
Sang-Won Jee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Silicon Nanowire ◽  
Optical Loss ◽  
Plasmonic Enhancement ◽  
Back Reflector ◽  
Metal Back

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

2012 ◽  
Vol 37 (20) ◽  
pp. 4245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rui Ren ◽  
Yongxin Guo ◽  
Rihong Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Silicon Nanowire ◽  
Back Reflector

Investigation of Parasitic Absorption in Back Contact of CdTe Solar Cells

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Smay ◽  
Ola Rashwan ◽  
James Then ◽  
Darien Perez
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Solar Cells ◽  
Solar Cell ◽  
Absorption Efficiency ◽  
Absorber Layer ◽  
Thin Film Solar Cells ◽  
Infrared Range ◽  
Back Contact ◽  
Back Reflector ◽  
Metal Back

Thin film solar cells (TFSC) differ from the conventional wafer solar cell panels in that they are a fraction of the thickness, hence they boast reduced material costs, lighter weight, and possible flexibility. To improve their light-trapping and absorption efficiency, manufacturers currently use nanometer scale texturing. When manufacturing nano textured thin film solar cells in the substrate configuration, the back reflector is also textured. It has been observed that a textured back reflector leads to parasitic light absorption in silicon solar cells. This occurrence reduces the back reflector effectiveness, and thus reduces absorption in the absorber layer and overall efficiency. However, there is little to no similar research done for thin film (CdTe/CdS) solar cells devices. In this work, wave optical analyses of thin film CdTe/CdS solar cells with and without nano texturing on the metal back reflectors were simulated using ANSYS ANSOFT High Frequency Structural Simulator (HFSS). The optical analyses yielded percentage absorptions for unit cells with four absorber thicknesses range between 250- to 1000 nm, with and without a textured back reflector over six wavelengths range from 360nm to 860 nm, and with 3 different back contact metals (Au, Ag, and Al). It was noted that the textured back contacts show a substantial increase in the absorption in the active CdTe layer in the infrared range. Additionally, back reflector texturing increases the parasitic absorption in the metal back reflector layer as well, especially with ultrathin absorber layer. It was also found that additional parasitic absorption due to a textured back reflector has less of an impact on absorption as the active absorber thickness increases to 500 nm, 750 nm, or 1000 nm. Finally, silver (Ag) as back contact outperforms both aluminum (Al) and gold (Au). This finding might be crucial to solar cell manufacturers because it could possibly be an overlooked factor in achieving higher efficiencies for relatively thin cells.

scholarly journals Cell/Module Integration Technology with Wire-Embedded EVA Sheet

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 4170
Author(s):  
Jeong Eun Park ◽  
Won Seok Choi ◽  
Donggun Lim
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Solar Cell ◽  
High Power ◽  
Short Circuit ◽  
Optical Loss ◽  
Manufacturing Cost ◽  
Power Module ◽  
Manufacturing Method ◽  
Front Electrode ◽  
The Wire

Silicon wafers are crucial for determining the price of solar cell modules. To reduce the manufacturing cost of photovoltaic devices, the thicknesses of wafers are reduced. However, the conventional module manufacturing method using the tabbing process has a disadvantage in that the cell is damaged because of the high temperature and pressure of the soldering process, which is complicated, thus increasing the process cost. Consequently, when the wafer is thinned, the breakage rate increases during the module process, resulting in a lower yield; further, the module performance decreases owing to cracks and thermal stress. To solve this problem, a module manufacturing method is proposed in which cells and wires are bonded through the lamination process. This method minimizes the thermal damage and mechanical stress applied to solar cells during the tabbing process, thereby manufacturing high-power modules. When adopting this method, the front electrode should be customized because it requires busbarless solar cells different from the existing busbar solar cells. Accordingly, the front electrode was designed using various simulation programs such as Griddler 2.5 and MathCAD, and the effect of the diameter and number of wires in contact with the front finger line of the solar cell on the module characteristics was analyzed. Consequently, the efficiency of the module manufactured with 12 wires and a wire diameter of 0.36 mm exhibited the highest efficiency at 20.28%. This is because even if the optical loss increases with the diameter of the wire, the series resistance considerably decreases rather than the loss of the short-circuit current, thereby improving the fill factor. The characteristics of the wire-embedded ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) sheet module were confirmed to be better than those of the five busbar tabbing modules manufactured by the tabbing process; further, a high-power module that sufficiently compensated for the disadvantages of the tabbing module was manufactured.

Functionalized aluminum-catalyzed silicon nanowire formation and radial junction photovoltaic devices

Nanoscale ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wipakorn Jevasuwan ◽  
Naoki Fukata
Keyword(s):  
Surface Modification ◽  
Solar Cells ◽  
Surface Defects ◽  
Silicon Nanowire ◽  
Photovoltaic Devices ◽  
Step Process ◽  
One Step ◽  
Length Reduction

Vertical Al-catalyzed SiNW arrays with shaped surfaces were synthesized by a one-step process and NW-based solar cells were demonstrated with optimized NW surface defects through surface modification and length reduction.

Application of PCBM Layer as a Back Reflector of Micromorph Tandem Silicon Solar Cells

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (10) ◽  
pp. 10385-10388
Author(s):  
Junhee Jung ◽  
Ki-Hwan Hwang ◽  
Hyeongsik Park ◽  
Sang-Hun Nam ◽  
Jin-Hyo Boo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Silicon Solar Cells ◽  
Back Reflector

Development of n-μc-SiOx:H as cost effective back reflector and its application to thin film amorphous silicon solar cells

Solar Energy ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 97 ◽  
pp. 591-595 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Banerjee ◽  
T. Srikanth ◽  
U. Basavaraju ◽  
R.M. Tomy ◽  
M.G. Sreenivasan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Solar Cells ◽  
Amorphous Silicon ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Silicon Solar Cells ◽  
Back Reflector
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