Plasmonic ZnO/p-silicon heterojunction solar cell

A ZnO/p-Si heterojunction solar cell has been fabricated by sol-gel technique. Silver nanostructures have been deposited on the top surface of the cell by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) system. Silver nanoparticles show strong surface plasmon resonance at 500 nm and improve the overall absorbance of the cell. Deposition of silver nanoparticles on the top surface of the solar cell quenches the photoluminescence and indicates an effective scattering of incident light into the absorber layer. A solar cell containing silver nanoparticles shows fivefold improvement in short circuit current density in comparison to a pristine cell. Finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations illustrate the effect of silver nanoparticles on the performance of the solar cell. The total quantum efficiency (TQE) of the device shows a Gaussian curve with the aspect ratio (diameter: interspacing) of nanoparticles. Optimized distribution of silver nanoparticles can improve the light trapping capabilities of various thin-film solar cells.