Improvement of Quantum Efficiency and Photon Absorption from Electromagnetic Waves: Amorphous Silicon Thin Film Solar Cell
J. Environ. Nanotechnol., Volume 14, No 2 (June 2025) pp. 178-181
Abstract
In this work, the performance of amorphous silicon (a-Si) thin film solar cell is demonstrated by integrating Ag at the bottom and indium tin oxide (ITO) nanostructures at the top, using the rigorous coupled wave analysis method. Among the various materials, amorphous silicon plays a significant role due to its ability to harvest photons from electromagnetic waves and its naturally abundant. The integration of photonic (ITO) and plasmonics (Ag) nanostructures are crucial for enhancing light-harvesting mechanisms through nanoscale engineering. In that way, the Fabry-Perot resonance, guided waves are helping to increase the life time of the light particle (photon) under transverse electric (TE) modes. Consequently, the localized field, surface excitation, and surface guided waves are also enhancing the light trapping mechanism under transverse magnetic (TM) field modes. Finally, the designed a-Si thin film solar cell yielded the highest conversion cell efficiency of 18.79% and a short-circuit current density of 28.57 mA/m2 in TE modes. However, TM modes received 18% of conversion efficiency and 27.46 mA/m2 of current density.
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