Use of Aluminum-Silica Core-Shell Plasmonic Nanoparticles to Enhance the Opto-Electronic Performance of Thin-Film Solar Cells

Abstract

This computational study highlights the relevance of aluminum nanoparticles (NPs) in improving the opto-electronic performance of thin-film solar cells. Due to its high chemical reactivity and optical absorption in the ultra-violet range, aluminum nanoparticles are not typically used in applications to improve solar cell performance, despite its attractive optical properties. Therefore, aluminum nanoparticles were coated with a thin silica shell layer that resulted in shifting the absorption properties of aluminum nanoparticles to longer wavelengths, and also aided in chemical isolation of the highly reactive aluminum nanoparticle core. The absorbing substrate of silicon thin-film solar cells were then modified with various sizes of aluminum nanoparticles with varied shell thicknesses that were placed on top of the silicon substrate and also embedded inside it. Furthermore, the nanoparticles were also placed in a “sandwich” configuration, with one particle on top of the substrate and another embedded inside it. The results showed that Al-silica core-shell nanoparticles in a “sandwich” configuration demonstrated the most improved opto-electronic performance of solar cells when compared to the other configurations studied. The results underline the feasibility of using aluminum-silica core-shell nanoparticles to significantly enhance the opto-electronic properties of thin-film solar cells.