Solar absorbance enhancement in perovskite solar cells with the inclusion of copper nanoparticles: an architectural study

Abstract

In this paper we have studied the geometrical and material aspects of plasmonic nanoparticles embedded within organic–inorganic halide Perovskite solar cells (PSCs), to achieve higher solar absorbance enhancement. The material choice of the nanoparticle employed within the film is proportional to the enhancement factor the cell. Interestingly, we observe that copper nanoparticles produce similar absorbance like other conventional metals such as gold and silver. With the existing PSCs designs, high production costs serve as a paramount threat to its commercialization. The utilisation of copper could significantly lower this cost without compromising the solar absorbance of the cell. The size and location of the particle within the 200 nm thick perovskite film are also critically analysed to improve the solar absorbance of the designed solar cell. Results portray that the maximum enhancement can be attained with the inclusion of spherical nanoparticles of 70 nm radii, placed at the center of the film. This work also highlights the impact of different morphologies of plasmonic nanoparticles including sphere, cuboid and ellipsoid integrated with the cell. It is further extended to different geometrical orientations of nanoellipsoids naming oblate and prolate. To avoid a red shift in the resonance wavelength occurring due to plasmonic coupling, the dimer formation of these particles is also taken into account. We mark 30 nm as a safe plasmonic distance for two spherical nanoparticles of radii 30 nm embedded within the film to avoid this effect. The entire study has been conducted using finite difference time domain (FDTD) method of simulation.