TY - JOUR
T1 - Three dimensional a-Si:H thin-film solar cells with silver nano-rod back electrodes
AU - Jang, Jihoon
AU - Kim, Minjin
AU - Kim, Yangdoo
AU - Kim, Kyungmin
AU - Baik, Seung Jae
AU - Lee, Heon
AU - Lee, Jeong Chul
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MEST) (project no. 2009-0090912) and a research grant from Hankyong National University in the year of 2013.
PY - 2014/5
Y1 - 2014/5
N2 - We present three dimensional (3-D) amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin-film solar cells with silver nano-rods as back electrodes, which are fabricated by low cost nano imprint lithography (NIL). After conformal deposition of thin metal and semiconductor layers, we can achieve a dome-shaped geometry, which is shown to be effective in reducing the reflectance at the front surface due to the graded refractive index effect. In addition, the enhancement of the diffused reflectance over a broad wavelength in this dome-shaped geometry provides light trapping due to the increase in the effective light propagation length. Using this 3-D solar cell, we achieved 54% increase in short circuit current density and 45% increase in the conversion efficiency compared to the control cells with flat Ag surfaces. This 3-D structure can be also used for improving light harvesting in various photovoltaic devices regardless of materials and structures.
AB - We present three dimensional (3-D) amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin-film solar cells with silver nano-rods as back electrodes, which are fabricated by low cost nano imprint lithography (NIL). After conformal deposition of thin metal and semiconductor layers, we can achieve a dome-shaped geometry, which is shown to be effective in reducing the reflectance at the front surface due to the graded refractive index effect. In addition, the enhancement of the diffused reflectance over a broad wavelength in this dome-shaped geometry provides light trapping due to the increase in the effective light propagation length. Using this 3-D solar cell, we achieved 54% increase in short circuit current density and 45% increase in the conversion efficiency compared to the control cells with flat Ag surfaces. This 3-D structure can be also used for improving light harvesting in various photovoltaic devices regardless of materials and structures.
KW - Ag nano-rod
KW - Light trapping
KW - Nano imprint lithography
KW - a-Si:H solar cells
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U2 - 10.1016/j.cap.2014.02.006
DO - 10.1016/j.cap.2014.02.006
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84896369082
VL - 14
SP - 637
EP - 640
JO - Current Applied Physics
JF - Current Applied Physics
SN - 1567-1739
IS - 5
ER -