Absorption enhancement of ultra-thin film Solar Cell using Fabry-Perot and plasmonic modes

Abstract

Abstract In this paper, we investigate the photonic and plasmonic modes in order to enhance the absorption of ultrathin film Si Solar Cells. The simulations based on FEM show that these mechanisms enhance the absorption of the cell significantly. In order to investigate the plasmonic effects and use the amazing optical properties of localized surface plasmons (LSPs), multiple Au nanoparticles (NPs) with different radii have been used on the front surface of the Cell. Simulations show that the use of Au NPs with radii of 25, 50, and 75 nm simultaneously on the front surface of the Cell, increases the absorption dramatically. It is observed that multiple Au NPs with configuration illustrated in Case 5, enhance the absorption significantly due to the excitation of the multiple plasmonic modes in UV and Visible regions. In order to enhance the absorption in near-IR, we use Cu NPs on the backside of the cell. The highest average absorption of 84.7%, short-circuit current density of 36.7 (mA/cm2), and efficiency of 30.1% is achieved, with an increase of 177.7%, 178%, and 178.7% compared to Case 1, respectively. These methods promise the performance improvement of ultra-thin film solar cells and increase their application potential in Solar energy harvesting.