Optimisation of dielectric spacer layer thickness in Ag nanospheres/ITO/c-Si structure for plasmonic solar cells using FDTD simulation

ABSTRACT

The thickness of dielectric spacer layer (DSL) plays an important role in performance of plasmonic solar cells. In this work, effect of thickness variation of ITO (indium tin oxide) DSL in silver (Ag) nanospheres/ITO/crystalline silicon(c-Si) structure on forward and backward scattering efficiencies has been investigated. Simulations were carried out using the open-source software MEEP via FDTD method for Ag nanospheres of sizes 50nm, 80nm and 100nm. Maximum forward scattering was observed with 80nm thickness of ITO DSL for all sizes of Ag nanospheres. Transmittance at ITO/c-Si interface and spatial distribution of electric field have been investigated for optimised thickness of ITO DSL. In visible to near infra-red region, maximum transmittance was exhibited by 100nm Ag nanosphere. Enhanced electric field has been observed with increasing size of nanosphere. This study provides us an optimum value of ITO DSL thickness in Ag nanospheres/ITO/c-Si structure to fabricate a photovoltaic device with upgraded efficiency.

KEYWORDS:

• Solar cell
• plasmonics
• silver nanospheres
• FDTD
• forward scattering
• backward scattering
• transmittance
• dielectric spacer layer (DSL)
• electric field

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).