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. 2016 May 25;6(6):98.
doi: 10.3390/nano6060098.

Enhancing the Photocurrent of Top-Cell by Ellipsoidal Silver Nanoparticles: Towards Current-Matched GaInP/GaInAs/Ge Triple-Junction Solar Cells

Yiming Bai  1 , Lingling Yan  2 , Jun Wang  3 , Lin Su  4 , Zhigang Yin  5 , Nuofu Chen  6 , Yuanyuan Liu  7
Affiliations

Enhancing the Photocurrent of Top-Cell by Ellipsoidal Silver Nanoparticles: Towards Current-Matched GaInP/GaInAs/Ge Triple-Junction Solar Cells

Yiming Bai et al. Nanomaterials (Basel). .

Abstract

A way to increase the photocurrent of top-cell is crucial for current-matched and highly-efficient GaInP/GaInAs/Ge triple-junction solar cells. Herein, we demonstrate that ellipsoidal silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) with better extinction performance and lower fabrication temperature can enhance the light harvest of GaInP/GaInAs/Ge solar cells compared with that of spherical Ag NPs. In this method, appropriate thermal treatment parameters for Ag NPs without inducing the dopant diffusion of the tunnel-junction plays a decisive role. Our experimental and theoretical results confirm the ellipsoidal Ag NPs annealed at 350 °C show a better extinction performance than the spherical Ag NPs annealed at 400 °C. The photovoltaic conversion efficiency of the device with ellipsoidal Ag NPs reaches 31.02%, with a nearly 5% relative improvement in comparison with the device without Ag NPs (29.54%). This function of plasmonic NPs has the potential to solve the conflict of sufficient light absorption and efficient carrier collection in GaInP top-cell devices.

Keywords: Ag ellipsoidal nanoparticles; GaInP/GaInAs/Ge triple-junction solar cells; current-match; thermal treatment parameters.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(a) Schematic layer structure and (b) cross-sectional view scanning electron microscope (SEM) image of the epitaxial structure of GaInP/GaInAs/Ge triple-junction solar cells (TJSCs).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Plane-view SEM images of (a) ellipsoidal and (b) spherical Ag NPs.
Figure 3
Figure 3
(a) Current-voltage (J-V) characteristic curve and (b) external quantum efficiency of the GaInP/GaInAs/Ge device.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Theoretical (dotted lines) and experimental (solid lines) extinction spectra of spherical Ag NPs with D = 88 nm and ellipsoidal Ag NPs with 2a/2b/2c = 76/94/76 nm.
Figure 5
Figure 5
External quantum efficiency of GaInP top-cell in TJSCs.
Figure 6
Figure 6
J-V characteristics of GaInP/GaInAs/Ge triple-junction solar cells at one-sun AM 1.5G, 25 °C. The measurement was performed on the 1.1 cm2 solar cell devices.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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