Solar harvesting based on perfect absorbing all-dielectric nanoresonators on a mirror

Journal Article (2019)
Author(s)

R. Vismara (TU Delft - Photovoltaic Materials and Devices)

Nils Odebo Länk (Chalmers University of Technology)

Ruggero Verre (Chalmers University of Technology)

Mikael Käll (Chalmers University of Technology)

Olindo Isabella (TU Delft - Photovoltaic Materials and Devices)

M Zeman (TU Delft - Electrical Sustainable Energy)

Research Group
Photovoltaic Materials and Devices
Copyright
© 2019 R. Vismara, Nils Odebo Länk, Ruggero Verre, Mikael Käll, O. Isabella, M. Zeman
DOI related publication
https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.27.00A967
More Info
expand_more
Publication Year
2019
Language
English
Copyright
© 2019 R. Vismara, Nils Odebo Länk, Ruggero Verre, Mikael Käll, O. Isabella, M. Zeman
Research Group
Photovoltaic Materials and Devices
Issue number
16
Volume number
27
Pages (from-to)
A967-A980
Reuse Rights

Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.

Abstract

The high-index all-dielectric nanoantenna system is a platform recently used for multiple applications, from metalenses to light management. These systems usually exhibit low absorption/scattering ratios and are not efficient photon harvesters. Nevertheless, by exploiting far-field interference, all-dielectric nanostructures can be engineered to achieve near-perfect absorption in specific wavelength ranges. Here, we propose – based on electrodynamics simulations – that a metasurface composed of an array of hydrogenated amorphous silicon nanoparticles on a mirror can achieve nearly complete light absorption close to the bandgap. We apply this concept to a realistic device, predicting a boost of optical performance of thin-film solar cells made of such nanostructures. In the proposed device, high-index dielectric nanoparticles act not only as nanoatennas able to concentrate light but also as the solar cell active medium, contacted at its top and bottom by transparent electrodes. By optimization of the exact geometrical parameters, we predict a system that could achieve initial conversion efficiency values well beyond 9% – using only the equivalent of a 75-nm thick active material. The device absorption enhancement is 50% compared to an unstructured device in the 400 nm − 550 nm range and more than 300% in the 650 nm − 700 nm spectral region. We demonstrate that such large values are related to the metasurface properties and to the perfect absorption mechanism.

Files

Oe_27_16_A967.pdf
(pdf | 4.1 Mb)
License info not available