High-efficiency photonic crystal solar cell architecture
Optics Express, Vol. 17, Issue 11, pp. 8871-8878 (2009)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/OE.17.008871
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Abstract
Thin silicon solar cells suffer from low light absorption compared to their thick counterparts, especially in the near infra-red regime. In order to obtain high energy conversion efficiency in thin solar cells, an efficient light trapping scheme is required. In this paper, we theoretically demonstrate significant enhancement in efficiency of thin crystalline silicon solar cells by using photonic crystals as the light absorbing layer. In particular, a relative increase of 11.15% and 3.87% in the energy conversion efficiency compared to the optimized conventional design is achieved for 2μm and 10μm thicknesses, respectively.
© 2009 Optical Society of America
OCIS Codes
(040.5350) Detectors : Photovoltaic
(050.5298) Diffraction and gratings : Photonic crystals
ToC Category:
Photonic Crystals
History
Original Manuscript: February 20, 2009
Revised Manuscript: April 1, 2009
Manuscript Accepted: April 14, 2009
Published: May 12, 2009
Citation
Alongkarn Chutinan, Nazir P. Kherani, and Stefan Zukotynski, "High-efficiency photonic crystal solar cell
architecture," Opt. Express 17, 8871-8878 (2009)
http://www.opticsinfobase.org/oe/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-17-11-8871
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