Research of Ag nanospheres for absorption enhancement in amorphous silicon thin film solar cells

Plasmonics is a new promising approach to enhance the light absorption in the thin film solar cells. The plasmonic effects of the metal nanoparticle introduced in thin film solar cells could also be detrimental for the higher optical absorption and hence the higher efficiency of solar cells. The effects of the Ag nanospheres arrays on the absorption of amorphous silicon solar cells were investigated by a numerical simulation based on the finite element method. The light absorption under different radius and width of the grating has been calculated. The optimization results show that the absorption of the solar cell with Ag nanospheres is enhanced up to 64 % under AM1.5 illumination in the 500–730 nm wavelength range compared with the reference cell. The physical mechanisms of absorption enhancement in different wavelength range have been discussed. These results are promising for the design of amorphous silicon thin film solar cells with enhanced performance. © 2016, The Optical Society of India.