Bifacial Schottky‐Junction Plasmonic‐Based Solar Cell. Issue 5 (30th January 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Farhat, Mohamed; Baloch, Ahmer A. B.; Rashkeev, Sergey N.; Tabet, Nouar; Kais, Sabre; Alharbi, Fahhad H.
• Is Part Of: Energy technology. Volume 8:Issue 5(2020:May)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2020-01-30
• Subjects: bifacial -- optoelectronics -- photovoltaics -- plasmonics -- Schottky junction; Energy development -- Periodicals; Power resources -- Periodicals; 333.79
• DOI: 10.1002/ente.201901280
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2194-4288

Abstract

Abstract : Plasmonically‐enhanced and Schottky‐based devices are very appealing candidates for sunlight energy–harvesting applications. However, this class of structures introduces inherent limitations such as thermionic emission (and the related dark current). This article theoretically proposes using the metal–semiconductor–metal heterojunction under bifacial mode. In this design, plasmonic periodic gratings are introduced in the bifacial configuration to allow collection of light from both faces of the solar junction. This results in improved carrier generation and enhanced device performance of a cell with a 3 μm thick Si absorber. Bifacial gain for short circuit current is found to be 88%, with a bifaciality factor (the ratio of rear to front response of the device) of 84%. By optimizing the filling fractions of the front and rear plasmonic gratings, the obtained normalized output becomes higher than 25%; i.e., it almost doubles the performance in comparison with the monofacial Schottky solar cell. Abstract : The synergistic effect of plasmonic materials and bifaciality is investigated for a Schottky junction solar cell using a coupled optoelectronic model. By optimizing the geometry of the front and rear plasmonic gratings, photocarrier generation is improved by 88%. Optimal filling fractions correspond to (0.5, 0.5) for a normalized efficiency of 25%.