An enhanced efficient thin film silicon solar cell design based on silver nanoparticle

Absorption enhancement in thin film silicon solar cell is the most challenging issue. Plasmonic light trapping technique based on metal nanoparticle is an efficacious solution in this respect. We have designed an enhance absorbed front surface of a thin film Si solar cell placing silver (Ag) nanoparticle on the top of the surface. Light transmittance and photon absorption enhancement are measured in Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) numerical simulation method over the wavelength range of 400-1100 nm. The resultant absorption enhancement of Ag nanoparticle is compared against the absorption based on gold (Au) nanoparticle. Simulation results show that our proposed design offer 37.6% photon absorption enhancement over surface plasmon resonance frequency of Ag nanoparticle. This substantial absorption step up by the absorber layer is the consequence of surface plasmon excitation of Ag nanoparticle.