Gold Nanoparticles Introduced ZnO/Perovskite/ Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cell

Renewable energy sources like photovoltaics have the potential to mitigate the negative consequences of pollution and global warming. The solar sector has shown exponential growth and is quickly becoming a viable alternative to fossil fuels. Currently, the great majority of solar modules are composed of crystalline silicon. To make photovoltaics more competitive, affordability and efficiency are two of the most important elements. Metal nanoparticles can be introduced or a heterojunction can be made using appropriate materials to increase the absorption coefficient of a silicon-based solar cell, which boost the total efficiency of the solar module. Therefore, in this study, we used Sentaurus TCAD simulation to examine the effects of gold nanoparticles introduced with various sizes and periodicities on the photoelectric characteristics of ZnO/Si and Perovskite/Si solar cells. Accordingly, all of the photoelectric characteristics of the perovskite/Si solar cell have shown a clear sinusoidal connection with the nanoparticle periodicity. When the gold nanoparticle size changed from 6 nm to 9 nm, the period of the sinusoidal function changed to
$\pi $
. The photoelectric parameters of ZnO/Si solar cells changed in a sinusoidal pattern based on the nanoparticle’s periodicity, but this was true only when the nanoparticles size was between 9 nm and 21 nm. According to the obtained results, the maximum values of short-circuit current, open circuit voltage and fill factor are 10.47 mA/cm2, 0.384 V, 71.06% for perovskite/Si and 10.52 mA/cm2, 0.306 V, 71.12% for ZnO/Si. The minimum current density of the perovskite/Si solar cell was identical when compared to the solar cell without nanoparticles. When a gold nanoparticle with a size of 6 nm was introduced into the ZnO/Si solar cell with a periodicity of 120 nm, the short circuit current decreased by a factor of 3.81 compared to the solar cell without the nanoparticle. It has been scientifically proven that Fano interference is responsible for the sinusoidal relationship between the short-circuit current of the solar cells and the periodicity of the nanoparticle.