City Research Online

Optical and Electrical Analyses of Solar Cells with a Radial PN Junction and Incorporating an Innovative NW Design That Mimics ARC Layers

Cabrera, F. ORCID: 0000-0001-7915-0711 & Rahman, A. ORCID: 0000-0001-6384-0961 (2023). Optical and Electrical Analyses of Solar Cells with a Radial PN Junction and Incorporating an Innovative NW Design That Mimics ARC Layers. Nanomaterials, 13(10), article number 1649. doi: 10.3390/nano13101649

Abstract

The implementation of a texturing pattern on the surface of a solar cell is well known for reducing reflection, thus increasing the absorption of sunlight by the solar cell. Nanowires (NWs) that are large in their height have been widely used for this purpose. Through rigorous numerical simulations, this work explores the benefits of short but index-matched NWs and how these designs are also affected by surface recombination. Additionally, this work further optimized power conversion efficiency (PCE) by placing two or three NWs of different heights and diameters on top of each other to mimic the performance of two-NW and three-NW ARC designs with PCEs of 16.8% and 17.55%, respectively, when a radial pn junction is considered. These are the highest reported so far for such a thin silicon solar cell. Furthermore, we also show how these designs were impacted by surface recombination velocity and compare these findings to simple NWs of different heights and diameters.

Publication Type: Article
Additional Information: © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Publisher Keywords: nanowires; solar cell; light trapping; texturing patterns; cost reduction; absorption enhancement; radial pn junction
Subjects: T Technology > T Technology (General)
Departments: School of Science & Technology > Engineering
SWORD Depositor:
[thumbnail of nanomaterials-13-01649.pdf]
Preview
Text - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.

Download (814kB) | Preview

Export

Add to AnyAdd to TwitterAdd to FacebookAdd to LinkedinAdd to PinterestAdd to Email

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics

Actions (login required)

Admin Login Admin Login