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Influences of Au nanoparticle density on the performance of GaAs solar cells

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Abstract

The influence of the Au nanoparticle density on the performance of single-junction GaAs solar cells has been investigated. The single-junction GaAs solar cells are grown on (100) GaAs substrates by using a low-pressure metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) system. Au nanoparticles are dispersed on the surfaces of the cells by micro-pipetted casting and the density of the dispersed nanoparticles varies from 4.7 × 109 to 4.3 × 1010 cm−2. The conversion efficiencies of the GaAs solar cells are observed to depend strongly on the Au nanoparticle densities. For Au nanoparticle densities lower than 2.8 × 1010 cm−2, the conversion efficiency improvement of the GaAs solar cells mainly originates from the antireflection coating effect. In contrast, for the sample with a Au nanoparticle density of 2.8 × 1010 cm−2, the antireflection effect decreases due to the shadow effect and the local field enhancement effect due to the Au nanoparticles starts to be effective. The GaAs solar cell with a Au nanoparticle density of 1.9 × 1010 cm−2 shows a maximum conversion enhancement compared to that of the reference sample.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Ajou University, Suwon, 443-749, Korea

    Nguyen Dinh Lam, Youngjo Kim, Kangho Kim & Jaejin Lee

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  1. Nguyen Dinh Lam
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  2. Youngjo Kim
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  3. Kangho Kim
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  4. Jaejin Lee
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Correspondence to Jaejin Lee.

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Lam, N.D., Kim, Y., Kim, K. et al. Influences of Au nanoparticle density on the performance of GaAs solar cells. Journal of the Korean Physical Society 64, 868–871 (2014). https://doi.org/10.3938/jkps.64.868

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