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Broadband Absorptance High Efficiency Silicon Nanowire Fractal Arrays for Photovoltaic Applications

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 July 2014

Omar H. Alzoubi ,
Husam Abu-Safe ,
Khalid Alshurman  and
Hameed A. Naseem
Omar H. Alzoubi
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, U.S.A.
Husam Abu-Safe
Affiliation:
Natural Resources Engineering and Management, German-Jordanian University, Madaba, Jordan
Khalid Alshurman
Affiliation:
Microelectronics and photonics program, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, U.S.A.
Hameed A. Naseem
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, U.S.A.
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Abstract

Nanowire arrays have been proposed to enhance light trapping, increase efficiencies, and reduced material cost in photovoltaic solar cells. In this work we present a new crystalline silicon nanowire array structure, inspired by fractal geometry. The array structure is assumed to be an infinite 2D array in the x and y directions, and composed of vertically aligned SiNW suspended in air. Hexagonal fractal-like geometry is adapted in arranging cylindrical SiNW in these arrays. Full-wave finite element method 3D simulation is used to compute reflectance, transmittance and absorptance of the array for a normal incidence plane wave. The proposed fractal-like distribution of SiNW arrays yield broad absorption spectrum and enhanced efficiency while using less material. The efficiency of the proposed fractal-like SiNW arrays achieve ∼100% enhancement over that of the equivalent thickness flat c-Si film, and ∼18% enhancement over an equivalent height hexagonal array. The proposed optimized structures achieved a filling ratio ∼25%, which is ∼33% less than the corresponding hexagonal array.

Keywords

photovoltaicopticalnanostructure
Type
Articles
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1707: Symposium UU – Semiconductor Nanowires—Synthesis, Properties and Applications , 2014 , mrss14-1707-uu06-02
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2014 

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References

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