Design and analysis of light trapping in thin-film gallium arsenide solar cells using an efficient hybrid nanostructure

Jiazhuang Wang; Zhaopeng Xu; Fei Bian; Haiyan Wang; Jian Wang

doi:10.1117/1.JNP.11.046017

5 December 2017 Design and analysis of light trapping in thin-film gallium arsenide solar cells using an efficient hybrid nanostructure

Jiazhuang Wang, Zhaopeng Xu, Fei Bian, Haiyan Wang, Jian Wang

Author Affiliations +

Journal of Nanophotonics, Vol. 11, Issue 4, 046017 (December 2017). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JNP.11.046017

Abstract

Light trapping in thin-film solar cells is important for improving efficiency and reducing cost. We propose a hybrid nanostructure based on the anodic aluminum oxide grating and Si3N4 double-layer antireflection coatings combined with Ag nanoparticles to achieve advanced light trapping property in gallium arsenide (GaAs) solar cells with 500-nm thickness. The finite-element method is used to study the relationship between geometrical parameters of hybrid nanostructure and optical characteristics of thin-film GaAs solar cells. The light trapping ability is systematically studied by COMSOL multiphysics. The simulation results show that the hybrid nanostructure can highly increase the light absorption in the wavelengths from 300 to 860 nm. The average absorption in 500-nm-thick GaAs layer is 96.7%. The short circuit current density in 500-nm-thick GaAs layer is 30.2 mA/cm2, representing a 58.9% enhancement compared with that ( 19.0 mA/cm2) of the reference cell. Research paves the way for designing highly efficient light trapping structures in thin-film GaAs solar cells.

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Jiazhuang Wang, Zhaopeng Xu, Fei Bian, Haiyan Wang, and Jian Wang "Design and analysis of light trapping in thin-film gallium arsenide solar cells using an efficient hybrid nanostructure," Journal of Nanophotonics 11(4), 046017 (5 December 2017). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JNP.11.046017

Received: 2 September 2017; Accepted: 17 November 2017; Published: 5 December 2017

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