Nanostructured Dielectric Layer for Ultrathin Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells
Nanostructures have been widely used in solar cells due to their extraordinary photon management properties. However, due to poor pn junction quality and high surface recombination velocity, typical nanostructured solar cells are not efficient compared with the traditional commercial solar cells. He...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2017-01-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Photoenergy |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2017/7153640 |
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| _version_ | 1832551801493127168 |
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| author | Yusi Chen Yangsen Kang Jieyang Jia Yijie Huo Muyu Xue Zheng Lyu Dong Liang Li Zhao James S. Harris |
| author_facet | Yusi Chen Yangsen Kang Jieyang Jia Yijie Huo Muyu Xue Zheng Lyu Dong Liang Li Zhao James S. Harris |
| author_sort | Yusi Chen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Nanostructures have been widely used in solar cells due to their extraordinary photon management properties. However, due to poor pn junction quality and high surface recombination velocity, typical nanostructured solar cells are not efficient compared with the traditional commercial solar cells. Here, we demonstrate a new approach to design, simulate, and fabricate whole-wafer nanostructures on dielectric layer on thin c-Si for solar cell light trapping. The optical simulation results show that the periodic nanostructure arrays on dielectric materials could suppress the reflection loss over a wide spectral range. In addition, by applying the nanostructured dielectric layer on 40 μm thin c-Si, the reflection loss is suppressed to below 5% over a wide spectra and angular range. Moreover, a c-Si solar cell with 2.9 μm ultrathin absorber layer demonstrates 32% improvement in short circuit current and 44% relative improvement in energy conversion efficiency. Our results suggest that nanostructured dielectric layer has the potential to significantly improve solar cell performance and avoid typical problems of defects and surface recombination for nanostructured solar cells, thus providing a new pathway towards realizing high-efficiency and low-cost c-Si solar cells. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-57b6d457b7cb4d9c8b9c35252e441eae |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1110-662X 1687-529X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2017-01-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Journal of Photoenergy |
| spelling | doaj-art-57b6d457b7cb4d9c8b9c35252e441eae2025-02-03T06:00:31ZengWileyInternational Journal of Photoenergy1110-662X1687-529X2017-01-01201710.1155/2017/71536407153640Nanostructured Dielectric Layer for Ultrathin Crystalline Silicon Solar CellsYusi Chen0Yangsen Kang1Jieyang Jia2Yijie Huo3Muyu Xue4Zheng Lyu5Dong Liang6Li Zhao7James S. Harris8Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USADepartment of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USADepartment of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USADepartment of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USADepartment of Material Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USADepartment of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USADepartment of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USADepartment of Material Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USADepartment of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USANanostructures have been widely used in solar cells due to their extraordinary photon management properties. However, due to poor pn junction quality and high surface recombination velocity, typical nanostructured solar cells are not efficient compared with the traditional commercial solar cells. Here, we demonstrate a new approach to design, simulate, and fabricate whole-wafer nanostructures on dielectric layer on thin c-Si for solar cell light trapping. The optical simulation results show that the periodic nanostructure arrays on dielectric materials could suppress the reflection loss over a wide spectral range. In addition, by applying the nanostructured dielectric layer on 40 μm thin c-Si, the reflection loss is suppressed to below 5% over a wide spectra and angular range. Moreover, a c-Si solar cell with 2.9 μm ultrathin absorber layer demonstrates 32% improvement in short circuit current and 44% relative improvement in energy conversion efficiency. Our results suggest that nanostructured dielectric layer has the potential to significantly improve solar cell performance and avoid typical problems of defects and surface recombination for nanostructured solar cells, thus providing a new pathway towards realizing high-efficiency and low-cost c-Si solar cells.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2017/7153640 |
| spellingShingle | Yusi Chen Yangsen Kang Jieyang Jia Yijie Huo Muyu Xue Zheng Lyu Dong Liang Li Zhao James S. Harris Nanostructured Dielectric Layer for Ultrathin Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells International Journal of Photoenergy |
| title | Nanostructured Dielectric Layer for Ultrathin Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells |
| title_full | Nanostructured Dielectric Layer for Ultrathin Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells |
| title_fullStr | Nanostructured Dielectric Layer for Ultrathin Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells |
| title_full_unstemmed | Nanostructured Dielectric Layer for Ultrathin Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells |
| title_short | Nanostructured Dielectric Layer for Ultrathin Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells |
| title_sort | nanostructured dielectric layer for ultrathin crystalline silicon solar cells |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2017/7153640 |
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