Open AccessSimulation and analysis of the angular response of 1D dielectric nanophotonic light-trapping structures in thin-film photovoltaics
Author(s) -
Peng Wang,
Rajesh Me
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.20.00a545
Subject(s) - nanophotonics , optics , materials science , optoelectronics , thin film , photovoltaics , dielectric , ray , total internal reflection , grating , diffraction grating , photovoltaic system , physics , nanotechnology , ecology , biology
Nanophotonics can guide the design of novel structures for light-trapping in ultra-thin photovoltaic cells. Here, we report on the systematic study of the effect of the angle of incidence of sunlight on the performance of such structures. We also conduct a parametric study of a sinusoidal grating and demonstrate that light intensity in the active region averaged over a range of input angles from 0° to 80° can be enhanced by more than 3 times compared to the bare device. Such a broadband light-trapping nanostructure can increase the total daily energy production of a fixed (non-tracking) device by over 60%, compared to a reference device with an anti-reflection coating.