A Comparative analysis of nanoparticle type variants for Plasmonic light trapping enhancement in thin film hydrogenated amorphous silicon solar cells

Abstract

The new possibilities for the photoelectric conversion enhancement of solar cells are explored by the phenomenon of plasmonics with nanoparticles having higher charge carrier concentration deposited on to the substrate with the intention of meeting the energy demands by renewable sources over the fossil fuels. A systematic simulative analysis is performed to understand the role of different types of nanoparticles on the thin film hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) solar cells upon deposited on the front surface exposed to the incident light radiations. The three-dimensional simulations with finite difference time domain approach are performed to monitor enhanced optical absorption induced by localized surface plasmon, quantified by the near-field concentration and the modelled scattering and absorption cross-sections of nanoparticles in the interesting range of wavelength. The paper investigates the plasmonic coupling of light into thin film a-Si:H structures in terms of dielectric properties providing an option to narrow down to cost-effective nanoparticles for the enhanced performance across the visible range of the spectrum in the interest of large-scale manufacturability. The search for new functional NP materials covering noble metals and few nitrides and their contribution to light trapping enhancement is analysed for obtaining the highest device absorption with low NP parasitic absorption. For the optimal design of thin film a-Si:H solar cell, it’s demonstrated by the obtained results that the NP type is a choice between the dominant scattering over the undesired reflection and parasitic losses.