Comparative study of thin film n-i-p a-Si: H solar cells to investigate the effect of absorber layer thickness on the plasmonic enhancement using gold nanoparticles
Author
Islam, K.
Chowdhury F.I.
Okyay, Ali Kemal
Nayfeh, A.
Date
2015Source Title
Solar Energy
Print ISSN
0038092X
Publisher
Elsevier Ltd
Volume
120
Pages
257 - 262
Language
English
Type
ArticleItem Usage Stats
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Abstract
In this paper, the effect of gold nanoparticles on n-i-p a-Si:H solar cells with different intrinsic layer (i-layer) thicknesses has been studied. 100nm and 500nm i-layer based n-i-p a-Si:H solar cells were fabricated and colloidal gold (Au) nanoparticles dispersed in water-based solution were spin-coated on the top surface of the solar cells. The Au nanoparticles are of spherical shape and have 100nm diameter. Electrical and quantum efficiency measurements were carried out and the results show an increase in short-circuit current density (J<inf>sc</inf>), efficiency and external quantum efficiency (EQE) with the incorporation of the nanoparticles on both cells. J<inf>sc</inf> increases from 5.91mA/cm2 to 6.5mA/cm2 (~10% relative increase) and efficiency increases from 3.38% to 3.97% (~17.5% relative increase) for the 100nm i-layer solar cell after plasmonic enhancement whereas J<inf>sc</inf> increases from 9.34mA/cm2 to 10.1mA/cm2 (~7.5% relative increase) and efficiency increases from 4.27% to 4.99% (~16.9% relative increase) for the 500nm i-layer cell. The results show that plasmonic enhancement is more effective in 100nm than 500nm i-layer thickness for a-Si:H solar cells. Moreover, the results are discussed in terms of light absorption and electron hole pair generation. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd.
Keywords
NanoparticlesPhotovoltaics
Plasmonic
Solar cells
Thin-film
Efficiency
Electromagnetic wave absorption
Fiber optic sensors
Film thickness
Gold coatings
Light absorption
Metal nanoparticles
Nanoparticles
Plasmons
Quantum efficiency
Silicon
Silicon solar cells
Solar cells
Solar power generation
Thin films
Comparative studies
Efficiency increase
Electron-hole pair generation
External quantum efficiency
Photovoltaics
Plasmonic
Quantum Efficiency measurements
Water-based solutions
Gold
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/11693/20848Published Version (Please cite this version)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2015.07.018Collections
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