Plasmonic nanoparticles-assited solar cell

Contacts:

Andrey Novitsky, DTU Fotonik (anov@fotonik.dtu.dk) 

Andrei Lavrinenko, DTU Fotonik (alav@fotonik.dtu.dk)

Solar cells nowadays are extremely important as the “green” power-producing devices able to convert environmental solar light to the electric energy. The main problem is to make it as cheap, that is, as effective as possible. One of the solutions is to increase the efficiency of the solar cell covering it with a layer with embedded plasmonic (metallic) nanoparticles. Appropriately selecting the size of a particle, one can achieve significant absorption in the infrared frequency range, so that the particle will emit photoelectrons from its surface. These photoelectrons along with photovoltaics, usual in the solar cell technique, will increase the total photocurrent produced by solar cells. Therefore, the presence of the nanoparticles will lift the effectiveness of the cell.

This project is devoted to the analysis of the spectral characteristics of a solar element covered by plasmonic nanoparticles. Using CST Microwave Studio or COMSOL Multiphysics, it is necessary to study, which shape (sphere, cylinder, ellipsoid, etc.) and material (gold, silver, aluminum, etc.) of the particle are preferable. In the figure we show preliminary results for the disk-shaped nanoparticles embedded at the interface between the ITO (indium-tin-oxide) layer and GaAs semiconductor cell. This research work should support the experiment carried out in our group. Also, the excitation of plasmons by the obliquely incident light should be investigated to understand, how the angle of incidence changes the effect. Plasmon-assistant solar cells are the cutting-edge technology of the modern nanophotonics, which has much space for research.