Large Area a-Si/Si Nanowire Hybrid Solar Cells
Conferences & Talks

description

The trade-off between solar cell thickness and carrier collection efficiency places a practical limitation on planar amorphous Si (a-Si) photovoltaic devices which prevents them from efficiently absorbing light in the longer wavelengths. To address this issue we have devised a scheme where a thin a-Si cell is deposited over a disordered Si nanowire (NW) mat. The disordered geometry of the NW mat scatters light causing a photon to interact with multiple nanowires increasing the probability that it will be absorbed. The NW mat makes it possible to improve the absorption efficiency of the cell without increasing the cell thickness and thus results in enhanced absorption at the longer wavelengths.