Promising way for enhancing light absorption in silicon via silver nanoparticles: experimental and numerical study

Abstract

Silver nanoparticles (Ag-Nps) were grown on the surface of a p-type crystalline silicon (C-Si) substrate using electroless metal deposition. It was found that the Ag-Nps distribution on C-Si was controlled by the silver nitrate (AgNO₃) concentrations. Atomic force microscopy observations revealed the formation of a continuous layer at high concentration. In contrast, a distribution of Ag-Nps with a spherical shape was obtained at lower concentration. The samples were also examined by optical microscopy under dark field illumination. The light reflected from Ag-Nps was obtained with different colors. This difference indicates a slight change in particle size. It is demonstrated that a silicon substrate with deposited Ag-Nps shows a significant decrease in reflectance and an increase of the absorption in the region from 200 to 800 nm. Moreover, the behavior of small Ag-Nps while interacting with light (absorbed or scattered light) is theoretically described using the Mie theory based on the Drude model. The introduction of silver nanoparticles on silicon surface is used to improve the efficiency of solar cells by reducing reflection and increasing the light absorption.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• AFM
• electroless metal deposition
• silver nanoparticles
• p-type crystalline si
• optical properties
• Mie theory

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the University of Sciences and Technology of Oran Mohamed Boudiaf, The Algerian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, and Directorate General for Scientific Research and Technological Development.

Authors’ contributions

All authors have contributed equally to this work.

The study conception and design, preparation of the experimental and theoretical part was performed by BELMEHDI Meriem Zineb and ZERDALI Mokhtar. BECHIRI Fetiha contributed to the study and participated in material preparation part. BENALI Mohamed Amine contributed to the theoretical study conception. The manuscript was drafted and revised by BELMEHDI Meriem Zineb and BENALI Mohamed Amine. ZERDALI Mokhtar approved the version to be published. We confirm that all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

Consent to participate

All authors have agreed to participate in this research.

Consent for publication

The article was written by the named authors, who are all aware of its content and have given their permission for it to be published.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethics approval

The research did not involve human participants and/or animals.

Data availability statement

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on request.