title: Enhancement of optical absorption in thin-film solar cells through the excitation of higher-order nanoparticle plasmon modes.
abstract: Recent research in the rapidly emerging field of plasmonics has shown the potential to significantly enhance light trapping inside thin-film solar cells by using metallic nanoparticles. In this article it is demonstrated the plasmon enhancement of optical absorption in amorphous silicon solar cells by using silver nanoparticles. Based on the analysis of the higher-order surface plasmon modes, it is shown how spectral positions of the surface plasmons affect the plasmonic enhancement of thin-film solar cells. By using the predictive 3D modeling, we investigate the effect of the higher-order modes on that enhancement. Finally, we suggest how to maximize the light trapping and optical absorption in the thin-film cell by optimizing the nanoparticle array parameters, which in turn can be used to fine tune the corresponding surface plasmon modes.
authors.affiliation: Advanced Photonics and Plasmonics Group, Institute of High Performance Computing, Singapore. akimov@ihpc.a-star.edu.sg
authors.forename: Yu A
authors.initials: YA
authors.lastname: Akimov
authors.forename: W S
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Koh
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ostrikov
mesh_terms: D000042:Absorption; D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D011211:Electric Power Supplies; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D008027:Light; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D010316:Particle Size; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D012993:Solar Energy; D020349:Surface Plasmon Resonance / Q000295:instrumentation*
chemical_list: D008567:Membranes, Artificial