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Title: Cascading metallic gratings for broadband absorption enhancement in ultrathin plasmonic solar cells

Abstract

The incorporation of plasmonic nanostructures in the thin-film solar cells (TFSCs) is a promising route to harvest light into the nanoscale active layer. However, the light trapping scheme based on the plasmonic effects intrinsically presents narrow-band resonant enhancement of light absorption. Here we demonstrate that by cascading metal nanogratings with different sizes atop the TFSCs, broadband absorption enhancement can be realized by simultaneously exciting multiple localized surface plasmon resonances and inducing strong coupling between the plasmonic modes and photonic modes. As a proof of concept, we demonstrate of 66.5% in the photocurrent in an ultrathin amorphous silicon TFSC with two-dimensional cascaded gratings over the reference cell without gratings.

Authors:
;  [1];  [1]
  1. Key Laboratory of Nanodevices and Applications-CAS and Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Suzhou 215123 (China)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
22262585
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Applied Physics Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 104; Journal Issue: 15; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Journal ID: ISSN 0003-6951
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; ABSORPTION; GRATINGS; NANOSTRUCTURES; RESONANCE; SOLAR CELLS; STRONG-COUPLING MODEL; THIN FILMS; TRAPPING

Citation Formats

Wen, Long, Sun, Fuhe, Chen, Qin, and Peking University Shenzhen SOC Key Laboratory, PKU-HKUST Shenzhen-Hong Kong Institute, Hi-Tech Industrial Park South, Shenzhen 518057. Cascading metallic gratings for broadband absorption enhancement in ultrathin plasmonic solar cells. United States: N. p., 2014. Web. doi:10.1063/1.4871584.
Wen, Long, Sun, Fuhe, Chen, Qin, & Peking University Shenzhen SOC Key Laboratory, PKU-HKUST Shenzhen-Hong Kong Institute, Hi-Tech Industrial Park South, Shenzhen 518057. Cascading metallic gratings for broadband absorption enhancement in ultrathin plasmonic solar cells. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4871584
Wen, Long, Sun, Fuhe, Chen, Qin, and Peking University Shenzhen SOC Key Laboratory, PKU-HKUST Shenzhen-Hong Kong Institute, Hi-Tech Industrial Park South, Shenzhen 518057. 2014. "Cascading metallic gratings for broadband absorption enhancement in ultrathin plasmonic solar cells". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4871584.
@article{osti_22262585,
title = {Cascading metallic gratings for broadband absorption enhancement in ultrathin plasmonic solar cells},
author = {Wen, Long and Sun, Fuhe and Chen, Qin and Peking University Shenzhen SOC Key Laboratory, PKU-HKUST Shenzhen-Hong Kong Institute, Hi-Tech Industrial Park South, Shenzhen 518057},
abstractNote = {The incorporation of plasmonic nanostructures in the thin-film solar cells (TFSCs) is a promising route to harvest light into the nanoscale active layer. However, the light trapping scheme based on the plasmonic effects intrinsically presents narrow-band resonant enhancement of light absorption. Here we demonstrate that by cascading metal nanogratings with different sizes atop the TFSCs, broadband absorption enhancement can be realized by simultaneously exciting multiple localized surface plasmon resonances and inducing strong coupling between the plasmonic modes and photonic modes. As a proof of concept, we demonstrate of 66.5% in the photocurrent in an ultrathin amorphous silicon TFSC with two-dimensional cascaded gratings over the reference cell without gratings.},
doi = {10.1063/1.4871584},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/22262585}, journal = {Applied Physics Letters},
issn = {0003-6951},
number = 15,
volume = 104,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Apr 14 00:00:00 EDT 2014},
month = {Mon Apr 14 00:00:00 EDT 2014}
}