Photovoltaic Performance of Silicon Solar Cells Enhanced by Plasmonic Silver Nanoparticles of Various Dimensions Depositing Through Anodic Aluminum Oxide Template

The plasmonic scattering performances of periodic silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) deposited on silicon solar cells using anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) mask and e-beam evaporation are demonstrated. The dimension and profile of AgNPs are controlled by the pore diameter and configuration of AAO template. Optical reflectance, absorption, external quantum efficiency (EQE), and photovoltaic current-voltage measurements are used to reveal the contribution of plasmonic scattering induced by Ag-NPs of various dimensions. Larger dimension of Ag-NPs exhibited a high efficiency enhancement (from 10.85% to 12.50%) than that of smaller one (10.85% to 12.07%) because the improving in optical reflectance and EQE due to plasmonic scattering of NPs are appeared much high for the cell with large Ag-NPs beyond 650 nm wavelength.