Photovoltaics with dielectric nanoantennas

Abstract

We investigate photovoltaics incorporating standing nanowire arrays of silicon using a full wave finite element computational approach. The interaction of sunlight with bare nanowires and also with nanowires attached to dielectric nanoantennas are studied. We compute the absorption spectra in each case and compare the results to determine a possible optimal mixture of nanowire-nanoantenna elements for solar applications. We also investigate further the enhancement of absorption by exploiting field intensity patterns within the nanowire arrays. The results illustrate the benefits of using dielectric nanoantennas for applications in nanowire solar cells.