Frequency Selective Light Scattering and Absorption for Maximum Energy Harvesting

In second generation photovoltaic cells, there is a growing interest in the enhancement of light absorption by embedding different shape and size of nanostructures. In this work, we use linear circuit theory to derive various parameters for the best selection of nanoparticle radius and embedding medium for broadband energy enhancement in thin film solar cells. The proposed parameters related to scattering and absorption, with its effects to maximize energy enhancement for various sizes of nanoparticles are simulated using impedance model. The results are compared with the Mie solution and show a close match with the exact theory. The derived analytical expressions are simple and the resulting parameters give intuitive understanding of the energy enhancement, which allow to develop application specific solutions for future generation solar cells.