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Tunable silver-shell dielectric core nano-beads array for thin-film solar cell application

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Abstract

The absorbance spectra of thin-film solar cells (TFSCs) can be enhanced by constructing the tunable periodic Ag-shell nano-bead (PASNB) arrays in the active material. In this paper, we investigated a plasmonic thin-film solar cell (TFSC) which composed of the arrays of PASNB deposited onto a crystalline silicon layer. By performing three-dimensional finite element method, we demonstrate that near field coupling among the PASNB arrays results in SPR modes with enhanced absorbance and field intensity. The proposed structure can significantly enhance the plasmonic activity in a wide range of incident light and enlarge working wavelength of absorbance in the range of near-UV, visible and near-infrared. We show that the sensitivity of the PASNB arrays reveals a linear relationship with the thickness of Ag-shell nano-bead (ASNB) for both the anti-bonding and bonding modes in the absorbance spectra. The broadband of absorbance spectra could be expanded as a wide range by varying the thickness of ASNB while the particle size is kept constant. Simulation results suggest this alternative scheme to the design and improvements on plasmonic enhanced TFSCs can be extended to other nanophotonic applications.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the University Research Grant of Universiti Brunei Darussalam (Grant No. UBD-ORI-URC-RG331-U01).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Advanced Material and Energy Sciences, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Tungku Link, Gadong, 1410, Brunei

    Yuan-Fong Chou Chau, Chee Ming Lim, Nyuk Yoong Voo, Nur Syafi’ie Muhammad Idris & Siew Ung Chai

  2. Department of Electro-Optical Engineering, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei, 106, Taiwan

    Chien-Ying Chiang

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  1. Yuan-Fong Chou Chau
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  2. Chee Ming Lim
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  3. Chien-Ying Chiang
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  5. Nur Syafi’ie Muhammad Idris
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  6. Siew Ung Chai
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Correspondence to Yuan-Fong Chou Chau.

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Chou Chau, YF., Lim, C.M., Chiang, CY. et al. Tunable silver-shell dielectric core nano-beads array for thin-film solar cell application. J Nanopart Res 18, 88 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-016-3394-1

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