Broadband, polarization-insensitive and wide-angle absorption enhancement of a-Si:H/μc-Si:H tandem solar cells by nanopatterning a-Si:H layer | Zendy

Xiaofeng Li | Zendy; Cheng Zhang | Zendy; Zhenhai Yang | Zendy; Aixue Shang | Zendy

Open Access

Broadband, polarization-insensitive and wide-angle absorption enhancement of a-Si:H/μc-Si:H tandem solar cells by nanopatterning a-Si:H layer

Author(s) -

Xiaofeng Li,

Cheng Zhang,

Zhenhai Yang,

Aixue Shang

Publication year - 2013

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.21.00a677

Subject(s) - materials science , photocurrent , optics , optoelectronics , tandem , amorphous silicon , photonic crystal , nanophotonics , polarization (electrochemistry) , silicon , photoactive layer , absorption (acoustics) , solar cell , polymer solar cell , crystalline silicon , physics , chemistry , composite material

A photonic crystal design that significantly enhances the absorption of tandem thin-film solar cells composed by amorphous and microcrystalline silicon (i.e., a-Si:H/μc-Si:H tandem cell) is proposed. The top junction with a-Si:H is nanopatterned as a one-dimensional photonic crystal. Considering the photocurrent matching, we optimally design the junction thickness and the configuration of the nanopattern; moreover, both transverse electric and magnetic incidences with various illuminating angles are taken into account. Calculations by rigorous coupled-wave approach and finite-element method show that the nanophotonic crystal design can improve the absorption and output photocurrent by over 20%, which shows very low sensitivity to the incident polarization. Moreover, the proposed structure is able to sustain the performance for a very wide angle ranges from 0° to ~80°.

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