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Micron-scale rod-like scattering particles for light trapping in nanostructured thin film solar cells

Malekshahi Byranvand, M ; Sharif University of Technology | 2015

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  1. Type of Document: Article
  2. DOI: 10.1039/c5ra18349a
  3. Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry , 2015
  4. Abstract:
  5. Spherical dielectric particles, nanofibers, and nanorods have been widely used as embedded scattering objects in nanostructured thin film solar cells. Here we propose micron-scale rod-like dielectric particles as a more effective alternative to the spherical ones for light trapping in thin film solar cells. The superior performance of these micro-rods is attributed to their larger scattering efficiency relative to the spherical particles as evidenced by full-wave optical calculations. Using a one-pot process, 1.7 μm-long bullet-shaped silica rods with 330 nm diameter are synthesized and their concentration in a N719-sensitized solar cell is optimized. A solar cell with an optimal concentration of rod-like particles delivers 8.74% power conversion efficiency (PCE), given the 6.33% PCE of the cell without any scattering particle. Moreover, a silver layer is deposited by chemical reduction of AgNO3 (Tollens' process) on the rear-side of the counter electrode, and hence the PCE of the optimal cell reaches 9.94%, showing 14% extra improvement due to the presence of the silver back-reflector. The rod-like scattering particles introduced here can be applied to other sensitized solar cells such as quantum-dot and organometallic perovskite solar cells
  6. Keywords:
  7. Dielectric properties ; Efficiency ; Nanorods ; Organometallics ; Semiconductor quantum dots ; Silver ; Spheres ; Thin films ; Dielectric particles ; Nanostructured thin film ; Optimal concentration ; Power conversion efficiencies ; Scattering efficiency ; Sensitized solar cells ; Spherical dielectric particles ; Thin film solar cells ; Solar cells
  8. Source: RSC Advances ; Volume 5, Issue 105 , 2015 , Pages 86050-86055 ; 20462069 (ISSN)
  9. URL: http://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2015/RA/c5ra18349a#!divAbstract