Abstract
The absorption properties of ZnO nanowire arrays covered with a semiconducting absorbing shell for extremely thin absorber solar cells are theoretically investigated by optical computations of the ideal short-circuit current density with three-dimensional rigorous coupled wave analysis. The effects of nanowire geometrical dimensions on the light trapping and absorption properties are reported through a comprehensive optical mode analysis. It is shown that the high absorptance of these heterostructures is driven by two different regimes originating from the combination of individual nanowire effects and nanowire arrangement effects. In the short wavelength regime, the absorptance is likely dominated by optical modes efficiently coupled with the incident light and interacting with the nearby nanowires (i.e. diffraction), induced by the period of core shell ZnO nanowire arrays. In contrast, in the long wavelength regime, the absorptance is governed by key optically guided modes, related to the diameter of individual core shell ZnO nanowires.
© 2014 Optical Society of America
Full Article | PDF ArticleMore Like This
Asman Tamang, Minoli Pathirane, Rion Parsons, Miriam M. Schwarz, Bright Iheanacho, Vladislav Jovanov, Veit Wagner, William S. Wong, and Dietmar Knipp
Opt. Express 22(S3) A622-A632 (2014)
Mostafa Afifi Hassan, Muhammad Ali Johar, Aadil Waseem, Indrajit V. Bagal, Jun-Seok Ha, and Sang-Wan Ryu
Opt. Express 27(4) A184-A196 (2019)
Can Ozcan, Deniz Turkay, and Selcuk Yerci
Opt. Express 27(8) A339-A351 (2019)