Optical absorption enhancement in solar cells with cylindrical Ag nanoparticles by localized surface plasmons

The use of nanoparticles on thin-film solar cells is an effective way to enhance optical absorption. A simulation is presented of a three-dimensional array of cylindrical Ag nanoparticles on the surface of a solar cell, which has been proved very efficient to enhance the optical absorption of the silicon substrate by utilizing localized surface plasmons. The enhancement ratio has been simulated with respect to nanoparticle radius and height as well as crystalline silicon substrate thickness and is discussed in detail. The absorption enhancements were found to exhibit a damping oscillation when only height or thickness of the cylindrical nanoparticle were varied. Even without intentional optimization, an enhancement factor of 1.283 for a silicon substrate with a thickness of 500 nm was still achieved in our simulations. A further optimized structure has the potential to attain a higher factor.