Light Trapping and Down‐Shifting Effect of Periodically Nanopatterned Si‐Quantum‐Dot‐Based Structures for Enhanced Photovoltaic Properties. (31st October 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Xu, Jun; Sun, Shenghua; Cao, Yunqing; Lu, Peng; Li, Wei; Chen, Kunji
• Is Part Of: Particle and particle systems characterization. Volume 31:Number 4(2014:Apr.)
• Page Start: 459
• Page End: 464
• Publication Date: 2013-10-31
• Subjects: Particles -- Periodicals; 620.43
• DOI: 10.1002/ppsc.201300228
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0934-0866

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" xml:lang="en"> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <p>Periodically nanopatterned Si structures have been prepared by using a nanosphere lithography technique. The formed nanopatterned structures exhibit good anti‐reflection and enhanced optical absorption characteristics. The mean surface reflectance weighted by AM1.5 solar spectrum (300–1200 nm) is as low as 5%. By depositing Si quantum dot/SiO₂ multilayers (MLs) on the nanopatterned Si substrate, the optical absorption is higher than 90%, which is significantly improved compared with the same multilayers deposited on flat Si substrate. Furthermore, the prototype n‐Si/Si quantum dot/SiO₂ MLs/p‐Si heterojunction solar cells has been fabricated, and it is found that the external quantum efficiency is obviously enhanced for nanopatterned cell in a wide spectral range compared with the flat cell. The corresponding short‐circuit current density is increased from 25.5 mA cm⁻² for flat cell to 29.0 mA cm⁻² for nano‐patterned one. The improvement of cell performance can be attributed both to the reduced light loss and the down‐shifting effect of Si quantum dots/SiO₂ MLs by forming periodically nanopatterned structures.</p> </abstract>