Enhancing power conversion efficiency of multicrystalline silicon solar cells by plasmonic effect of Ag nanoparticles embedded in SiNx layer
Ting Wang,
Shuai Zou,
Jingyan Zhu,
Zheng Lu,
Hua Sun,
Xiaoya Ye,
Liang Fang,
Rujun Tang,
Xiaodong Su
Affiliations
Ting Wang
School of Physical Science and Technology & Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Thin Films, Photovoltaic Research Institute of Soochow University & Canadian Solar, Inc., Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, People’s Republic of China
Shuai Zou
School of Physical Science and Technology & Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Thin Films, Photovoltaic Research Institute of Soochow University & Canadian Solar, Inc., Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, People’s Republic of China
Jingyan Zhu
School of Physical Science and Technology & Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Thin Films, Photovoltaic Research Institute of Soochow University & Canadian Solar, Inc., Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, People’s Republic of China
Zheng Lu
School of Physical Science and Technology & Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Thin Films, Photovoltaic Research Institute of Soochow University & Canadian Solar, Inc., Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, People’s Republic of China
Hua Sun
School of Physical Science and Technology & Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Thin Films, Photovoltaic Research Institute of Soochow University & Canadian Solar, Inc., Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, People’s Republic of China
Xiaoya Ye
Canadian Solar, Inc., 199 Lushan Road, SND, Suzhou 215129, China
Liang Fang
School of Physical Science and Technology & Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Thin Films, Photovoltaic Research Institute of Soochow University & Canadian Solar, Inc., Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, People’s Republic of China
Rujun Tang
School of Physical Science and Technology & Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Thin Films, Photovoltaic Research Institute of Soochow University & Canadian Solar, Inc., Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, People’s Republic of China
Xiaodong Su
School of Physical Science and Technology & Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Thin Films, Photovoltaic Research Institute of Soochow University & Canadian Solar, Inc., Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, People’s Republic of China
In this paper, we demonstrate that the performance of the industrial multicrystalline silicon solar cells can be improved by embedding the silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) into the SiNx layer. On the one hand, the cells have a certain optical loss in short wavelengths near the plasmonic resonance frequency of Ag-NPs, but their open circuit voltages and filling factors are increased due to depressed surface recombination as those short wavelength photons are mainly absorbed by Ag-NPs instead of the surface; on the other hand, the cells show strong absorption in long wavelengths, which can be attributed to the forward-scattering effect of Ag-NPs. Taking together, UV-absorbing Ag-NPs may act as a “sunscreen” to shield the UV damage, while improve the cell efficiency from 18.05 % to 18.25 % by embedding proper Ag-NPs. The techniques presented in this work can be easily incorporated into the current mc-Si solar cell production line, thus have great potential for the mass practical application.
