Abstract
Nanowire arrays have been proposed to enhance light trapping, increase efficiencies, and reduced material cost in photovoltaic solar cells. In this work we present a new crystalline silicon nanowire array structure, inspired by fractal geometry. The array structure is assumed to be an infinite 2D array in the x and y directions, and composed of vertically aligned SiNW suspended in air. Hexagonal fractal-like geometry is adapted in arranging cylindrical SiNW in these arrays. Full-wave finite element method 3D simulation is used to compute reflectance, transmittance and absorptance of the array for a normal incidence plane wave. The proposed fractal-like distribution of SiNW arrays yield broad absorption spectrum and enhanced efficiency while using less material. The efficiency of the proposed fractal-like SiNW arrays achieve ∼100% enhancement over that of the equivalent thickness flat c-Si film, and ∼18% enhancement over an equivalent height hexagonal array. The proposed optimized structures achieved a filling ratio ∼25%, which is ∼33% less than the corresponding hexagonal array.
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Alzoubi, O.H., Abu-Safe, H., Alshurman, K. et al. Broadband Absorptance High Efficiency Silicon Nanowire Fractal Arrays for Photovoltaic Applications. MRS Online Proceedings Library 1707, 50–55 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1557/opl.2014.678
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/opl.2014.678