title: Self-Assembled Monolayer of Wavelength-Scale Core-Shell Particles for Low-Loss Plasmonic and Broadband Light Trapping in Solar Cells.
abstract: Scattering particles constitute a key light trapping solution for thin film photovoltaics where either the particles are embedded in the light absorbing layer or a thick layer of them is used as a reflector. Here we introduce a monolayer of wavelength-scale core-shell silica@Ag particles as a novel light trapping strategy for thin film photovoltaics. These particles show hybrid photonic-plasmonic resonance modes that scatter light strongly and with small parasitic absorption losses in Ag (<1.5%). In addition, their scattering efficiency does not vary significantly with the refractive index of the surrounding medium. A monolayer of these particles is applied as the top-scattering layers in a dye-sensitized solar cells and it improves the short-circuit current density of a cell with 7 μm-thick dye-sensitized layer by 38%. Optical measurements of the scattering properties of these particles confirm that the strong scattering and low-parasitic absorption losses constitute the main reason for this efficient light trapping.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Sharif University of Technology , Tehran 14588, Iran.|Institute of MicroEngineering, Ecole Polytechique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) , Rue de la Maladière 71, Neuchatel 2002, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dabirian
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry, University College of Science, University of Tehran , Tehran 14155-6455, Iran.
authors.forename: Mahdi Malekshahi
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Byranvand
authors.affiliation: Optics & Photonics Technology Laboratory, Ecole Polytechique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) , Rue de la Maladiere 71, Neuchatel 2002, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Naqavi
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry, University College of Science, University of Tehran , Tehran 14155-6455, Iran.
authors.forename: Ali Nemati
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Kharat
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Sharif University of Technology , Tehran 14588, Iran.|Institute for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Sharif University of Technology , Tehran 14588, Iran.
authors.forename: Nima
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Taghavinia
keywords: dye-sensitized solar cell; light scattering; light trapping; plasmonic; thin film solar cell