Smart city compatible thin film solar cell based on extraordinary transmission and metallic patch nanoantenna

Abstract

An effective performance enhancement model for the thin film solar cell conjointly based on extraordinary transmission and nanoantenna is proposed and investigated. The absorber layer of the extraordinary transmission based solar cell contains a metallic thin film with periodic holes. Maximum extraordinary transmission is accomplished as the metallic film has the same refractive index on both sides. Increased light transmission causes the absorber layer to absorb more light, which increases short circuit current density and subsequently the efficiency of the thin film solar cell. The presented analysis demonstrates that adding a square nano patch on the top surface of the absorber layer can further boost the extraordinary transmission. The extraordinary transmission is increased because of the formation of cavity nanoantenna. Cavity nanoantenna increases the coupling of light into the hole due to the excitation of surface plasmons polaritons. The proposed design of solar cell exhibits around 98% absorption and the short circuit current density is increased by a factor of 3.23. The study has been carried out using finite difference time domain (FDTD) method.