Embedded vertical dual of silver nanoparticles for improved ZnO/Si heterojunction solar cells

A ZnO/Si heterojunction solar cell is studied with plasmonic nanoparticles embedded in the active layer. Two layers of silver nanoparticles are embedded in the ZnO layer. The effect of various parameters such as vertical-interparticle distance, horizontal-interparticle distance, relative dimensions of nanoparticles, and order of particle diameters are discussed in detail. Finite-difference time-domain studies suggest that particle dimensions of the top layer of silver nanoparticles should be less than the dimensions of the underneath layer of silver nanoparticles. The resulting structure acquires the benefits of each layer and improves the device performance over a broad spectrum. The dielectric separation of plasmonic layers is observed to be an important factor in favorable plasmonic response. Electric field diagrams are used to study the scattering of an incident field by proposed structure. Results are encouraging and suggest more concerted studies of multilayer plasmonic structures. (C) 2017 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)