Ultra-high efficient solar cell based on decagonal arrays of silicon nanowires

Silicon nanowires (SiNWs) are the subject of intense research in solar energy harvesting due to their unique electrical and optical characteristics. The transmission, reflection, and absorption spectra of decagonal Si NWs (D-SiNWs) solar cells have been calculated using a three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain method to present a design guideline for ultra-high efficiency SiNW in solar cell applications. In this study, the structure geometrical parameters of the suggested design are tuned to maximize light absorption. The ultimate efficiency is used to quantify the absorption enhancement of the SiNWs solar cells. A maximum ultimate efficiency of 39.3% is achieved for the reported D-SiNWs, which is greater than that of the previous work of slanting Si NWs by 17.49%. (C) 2014 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)