The effects of plasmonic nanoparticles on solar cell efficiency

For environmental and economic sustainability it is very important to meet the increasing energy needs with clean and renewable resources. Improvements made in the efficiency and cost of solar cells will be crucial in the future role of this renewable energy source. To achieve this, the unique optical characteristics of plasmonic nanoparticles and their applications on solar cells are investigated. In this regard, a formulation is developed to examine the optical properties of plasmonic nanoparticles in the lossy medium of a solar cell. Using this method, the effects of different parameters and structures on nanoparticle characteristics are investigated. The effect of the characterized nanoparticles on the optical power absorption of the solar cell is calculated. In this way, the optimal use of nanoparticles in solar cells and their contribution to cell absorption are determined. With the addition of nanoparticles inside the cell, an absorption increase of up to several times is observed with increased effects in thinner solar cells. The absorption of a 200 nm thick silicon cell is increased by a factor of 6.8 when silver nanoparticles are incorporated. This increase is 2.48 times for a 1 µm thick silicon cell. The use of plasmonic nanoparticles in multi-junction solar cells is also evaluated. The efficiency of the cell is increased in a wide spectrum of light by jointly using nanoparticles with different properties. Thus, it is shown that the use of nanoparticles in solar cells can provide an increase in efficiency and decrease in material costs.