Plasmon-Assisted Crystalline Silicon Solar Cell with TiO2 as Anti-Reflective Coating

The present study focuses on the employment of TiO2 (titanium dioxide) film as an anti-reflective coating (ARC) on thin crystalline silicon (Si)-based solar cells along with the incorporation of plasmonic silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) on its front surface having ITO (Indium Tin Oxide) as top metal contact. The response of solar cell has been studied in context of the external quantum efficiency (EQE) and the photovoltaic current-voltage characteristics. The EQE is enhanced appreciably in the entire wavelength range of 300 to 1100 nm (from 13.26% for bare Si solar cell to 61.93% for solar cell having both TiO2 and Ag nanoparticles at a wavelength of 600 nm), on incorporating anti-reflective TiO2 coating and Ag nanoparticles on the thin Si solar cell. A significant increment in the power conversion efficiency from 9.53% (bare cell) to 16.04% (cell with anti-reflective coating of TiO2 thin film and silver nanoparticles) has also been observed. The presence of TiO2 film reduces the reflection of incident light from the top Si surface and hence appreciably improves solar cell efficiency. Besides this, Ag NPs help in trapping more light due to the plasmonic effect and hence result in further improvement in solar cell efficiency. The achieved results are encouraging for the commercial development of thin Si-based solar cells with TiO2 ARC and Ag NPs.