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Study of thin-film GaAs solar cells with cylindrical Ag nanoparticles and distributed Bragg reflector

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Abstract

An efficient light-trapping structure, which consists of the periodic Ag nanoparticles and a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) with high reflectivity, is presented for the thin-film gallium arsenide (GaAs) solar cells. The effects of both Ag nanoparticles and DBR on the optical absorption of GaAs solar cells are theoretically investigated by using finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. The optimization process of parameters for the solar cell with both structures is analyzed systematically. The great absorption enhancement in GaAs layer is demonstrated, especially in the wavelength region near the GaAs band gap. It is observed that the superposition of the two effects excited by Ag nanoparticles and DBR results in the obvious absorption enhancement. By using cylindrical Ag nanoparticles and DBR together, the maximum enhancement factor of the solar cell is obtained as 4.83 in the simulation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Electronic Engineering and Automation, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin, 541004, China

    Xiao-nan Li  (李骁男), Zong-heng Yuan  (袁纵横) & Long Zhou  (周龙)

  2. School of Information Engineering, Guizhou Minzu University, Guiyang, 550025, China

    Zong-heng Yuan  (袁纵横)

Authors
  1. Xiao-nan Li  (李骁男)
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  2. Zong-heng Yuan  (袁纵横)
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  3. Long Zhou  (周龙)
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xiao-nan Li  (李骁男).

Additional information

This work has been supported by the International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Projects of Guizhou Province in China (No.2011GZ76257), and Program for Innovative Research Team of Guilin University of Electronic Technology (IRTGUET).

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Li, Xn., Yuan, Zh. & Zhou, L. Study of thin-film GaAs solar cells with cylindrical Ag nanoparticles and distributed Bragg reflector. Optoelectron. Lett. 10, 38–42 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11801-014-3195-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11801-014-3195-7

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