Enhanced angular response of power conversion efficiency for silicon solar cells utilizing a uniformly distributed nano-whisker medium

In the research of photovoltaic devices, eliminating Fresnel reflection loss is a critical issue on the way to pursue higher efficiency. To maximize the power conversion efficiency, dielectric antireflective coating shows a cost-effective approach, but not enough to absorb broadband solar radiation effectively. Recently, the functional nanostructure shows high potential to be an omnidirectional antireflective coating for the photovoltaic devices. Here we demonstrate Indium-Tin-Oxide (ITO) nano-whiskers, grown by the self-catalyst vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) mechanisms on the textured Si substrate. The ITO nano-whiskers can provide broadband anti-reflective properties (R<5%) in the wavelength range of 350–1100nm. In comparison with conventional Si solar cell, the ITO nano-whiskers coating solar cell shows higher external quantum efficiency (EQE) in the range of 700–1100nm. Moreover, the ITO nano-whisker coating Si solar cell shows a high total efficiency increase of 1.1% (from 16.08% to17.18%). The angular response of the conversion efficiency also increases from 7% at the normal incidence to more than 15% for incident angles over 70°.