Abstract
Ag nanoparticles were fabricated on Si substrates by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering and thermal annealing treatments. It was found that Ag nanoparticles are ellipsoid at low annealing temperature, but the axis ratio decreases with the increase of annealing temperature, and a shape transformation from ellipsoid to sphere occurs when the temperature increases to a critical point. The experimental results showed that the surface plasmon resonances depend greatly on the nanoparticles’shape and size, which is in accordance with the theoretical calculation based on discrete dipole approximation. The results of forward-scattering efficiency (FSE) and light trapping spectrum (LTS) showed that Ag nanoparticles annealed at 400°C could strongly enhance the light harvest than those annealed at 300 and 500°C, and that the LTS peak intensity of the former is 1.7 and 1.5 times stronger than those of the later two samples, respectively. The conclusions obtained in this paper showed that Ag ellipsoid nanoparticles with appropriate size is more favorable for enhancing the light trapping.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Rockstuhl C, Lederer F. Photon management by metallic nanodiscs in thin film solar cells. Appl Phys Lett, 2009, 94: 213102–3
Atwater H A, Polman A. Plasmonics for improved photovoltaic devices. Nat Mater, 2010, 9: 205–213
Pala R A, White J, Barnard E, et al. Design of plasmonic thin-film solar cells with broadband absorption enhancements. Adv Mater, 2009, 21: 3504–3509
Polman A. Applied physics: Plasmonics applied. Science, 2008, 322: 868–869
Bai Y M, Wang J, Chen N F, et al. Quantifying the effectiveness of SiO2/Au light trapping nanoshells for thin film poly-Si solar cells. Sci China Tech Sci, 2010, 53(8): 2228–2231
Pillai S, Catchpole K R, Trupke T. Surface plasmon enhanced silicon solar cells. J Appl Phys, 2007, 101: 093105–8
Schaadt D M, Feng B, Yu E T. Enhanced semiconductor optical absorption via surface plasmon excitation in metal nanoparticles. Appl Phys Lett, 2005, 86: 063106-3
Liu W, Wang X D, Li Y Q, et al. Surface plasmon enhanced GaAs thin film solar cells. Solar Energy Mater Solar Cells, 2011, 95: 693–698
Yang M D, Liu Y K, Shen J L, et al. Improvement of conversion efficiency for multi-junction solar cells by incorporation of Au nanoclusters. Opt Express, 2008, 16: 15754–15758
Catchpole K R, Polmanb A. Design principles for particle plasmon enhanced solar cells. Appl Phys Lett, 2008, 93: 191113-3
Zhou B, Li D S, Xiang L L, et al. Enhanced optical absorption of amorphous silicon films by Ag nanostructures. Chin Phys Lett, 2010, 27: 37303-3
Huang Q, Zhang X D, Wang S, et al. Fabrication and optical properties of functional optical silver nano-films (in Chinese). Acta Phys Sin, 2009, 58: 2731
Bai Y M, Wang J, Zhang H, et al. Enhancement of light trapping in thin-film solar cells through Ag nanoparticles. Chinese Optics Lett, 2011, 9: 032901-4
Jacak W, Krasnyj J, Jjacak J, et al. Mechanism of plasmon-mediated enhancement of photovoltaic efficiency. J Phys D: Appl Phys, 2011, 44: 055301-14
Temple T L G, Mahanama D K, Reehal H S. Influence of localized surface plasmon excitation in silver nanoparticles on the performance of silicon solar cells. Sol Energy Mater Sol Cell, 2009, 93: 1978–1985
Palk D E. Handbook of Optical Constants of Solids. Washington, D. C: Academic, 1985.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bai, Y., Wang, J., Yin, Z. et al. Ag nanoparticles preparation and their light trapping performance. Sci. China Technol. Sci. 56, 109–114 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-012-5010-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-012-5010-7