Metallic nanostructures for enhancement of absorption in thin-film solar cells

Abstract

In this paper, a novel structure is proposed to enhance the absorption of light in thin-film solar cells by surface plasmons excited on metallic nano-rods. The excitation of surface plasmons on these nano-rods that are implemented in amorphous hydrogenated silicon is realized by a two-dimensional array of metallic nanoparticles. This array, which consists of nonresonant plasmonic nanoparticles, can be mounted on the anti-reflection coating of the solar cells.