Light Trapping Induced High Short-Circuit Current Density in III-Nitride Nanorods/Si (111) Heterojunction Solar Cells

Abstract

Abstract An effective-area photovoltaic efficiency of 1.27% in power conversion, excluding the grid metal contact area and under 1 sun, AM 1.5G conditions, has been obtained for the p-GaN/i-InGaN/n-GaN diode arrays epitaxially grown on (111)-Si. The short-circuit current density is 14.96 mA/cm2 and the open-circuit voltage is 0.28 V. Enhanced light trapping acquired via multiple reflections within the strain and defect free III-nitride nanorod array structures and the short-wavelength responses boosted by the wide bandgap III-nitride constituents are believed to contribute to the observed enhancements in device performance.

Keywords

• III-nitride
• Nanorod
• Light trapping
• Solar cell
• Photovoltaic device
• Plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy