Interplay Between Optical and Electrical Properties of Nanostructured Surfaces in Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells
Light trapping has now been recognized as an essential element of highly efficient solar cells. A large number of sophisticated nanostructures have been developed and optically characterized, many of which have been aimed at thin-film silicon technology. It is still an open question whether such nan...
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IEEE
2019-01-01
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| Series: | IEEE Photonics Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8738824/ |
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| author | Amna Safdar Yue Wang Christopher Reardon Juntao Li Guilherme S. de Arruda Augusto Martins Emiliano R. Martins Thomas F. Krauss |
| author_facet | Amna Safdar Yue Wang Christopher Reardon Juntao Li Guilherme S. de Arruda Augusto Martins Emiliano R. Martins Thomas F. Krauss |
| author_sort | Amna Safdar |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Light trapping has now been recognized as an essential element of highly efficient solar cells. A large number of sophisticated nanostructures have been developed and optically characterized, many of which have been aimed at thin-film silicon technology. It is still an open question whether such nanostructures are beneficial for thick devices, however, especially, since highly efficient solar cells employ >100 μm thick absorber materials and wet etched micron-sized pyramids for light trapping. In this paper, we study and compare the optical and electrical performances of binary quasirandom nanostructures with pyramidal structures to address this question. We show that, while simulations indicate that pyramids have better optical performance, the best overall performance observed experimentally was achieved with binary nanostructures. We found that the experimental short-circuit current for a solar cell patterned with a quasirandom nanostructure is 3.2 mA/cm<sup>2</sup> higher than the current observed with pyramids. We attribute this higher current to a better balance between optical performance and surface recombination achieved by the binary nanostructures. This result indicates that binary nanostructures may be beneficial even for thick solar cells. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-34818f6758cc4e9ea4890af025e07a9c |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1943-0655 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2019-01-01 |
| publisher | IEEE |
| record_format | Article |
| series | IEEE Photonics Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-34818f6758cc4e9ea4890af025e07a9c2025-08-20T03:33:14ZengIEEEIEEE Photonics Journal1943-06552019-01-011141710.1109/JPHOT.2019.29235628738824Interplay Between Optical and Electrical Properties of Nanostructured Surfaces in Crystalline Silicon Solar CellsAmna Safdar0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1743-9792Yue Wang1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2482-005XChristopher Reardon2Juntao Li3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1399-9792Guilherme S. de Arruda4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5487-0154Augusto Martins5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9554-6481Emiliano R. Martins6https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6255-1479Thomas F. Krauss7https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4367-6601School of Chemical and Material Engineering, National University of Sciences and Technology H-12, Islamabad, PakistanDepartment of Physics, University of York, York, U.K.Department of Physics, University of York, York, U.K.State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Physics, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, ChinaSao Carlos School of Engineering, Department of Electrical and Computer, Engineering, University of Sao Paulo, Sao Carlos, SP, BrazilSao Carlos School of Engineering, Department of Electrical and Computer, Engineering, University of Sao Paulo, Sao Carlos, SP, BrazilSao Carlos School of Engineering, Department of Electrical and Computer, Engineering, University of Sao Paulo, Sao Carlos, SP, BrazilDepartment of Physics, University of York, York, U.K.Light trapping has now been recognized as an essential element of highly efficient solar cells. A large number of sophisticated nanostructures have been developed and optically characterized, many of which have been aimed at thin-film silicon technology. It is still an open question whether such nanostructures are beneficial for thick devices, however, especially, since highly efficient solar cells employ >100 μm thick absorber materials and wet etched micron-sized pyramids for light trapping. In this paper, we study and compare the optical and electrical performances of binary quasirandom nanostructures with pyramidal structures to address this question. We show that, while simulations indicate that pyramids have better optical performance, the best overall performance observed experimentally was achieved with binary nanostructures. We found that the experimental short-circuit current for a solar cell patterned with a quasirandom nanostructure is 3.2 mA/cm<sup>2</sup> higher than the current observed with pyramids. We attribute this higher current to a better balance between optical performance and surface recombination achieved by the binary nanostructures. This result indicates that binary nanostructures may be beneficial even for thick solar cells.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8738824/Light trappingsiliconnanophotonicsnanostructuressolar cell. |
| spellingShingle | Amna Safdar Yue Wang Christopher Reardon Juntao Li Guilherme S. de Arruda Augusto Martins Emiliano R. Martins Thomas F. Krauss Interplay Between Optical and Electrical Properties of Nanostructured Surfaces in Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells IEEE Photonics Journal Light trapping silicon nanophotonics nanostructures solar cell. |
| title | Interplay Between Optical and Electrical Properties of Nanostructured Surfaces in Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells |
| title_full | Interplay Between Optical and Electrical Properties of Nanostructured Surfaces in Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells |
| title_fullStr | Interplay Between Optical and Electrical Properties of Nanostructured Surfaces in Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells |
| title_full_unstemmed | Interplay Between Optical and Electrical Properties of Nanostructured Surfaces in Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells |
| title_short | Interplay Between Optical and Electrical Properties of Nanostructured Surfaces in Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells |
| title_sort | interplay between optical and electrical properties of nanostructured surfaces in crystalline silicon solar cells |
| topic | Light trapping silicon nanophotonics nanostructures solar cell. |
| url | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8738824/ |
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