Home | Survey | Topics | Index | References | Dictionary | Contribute | Gallery | Community | Search
| Near-field light scattering in photovoltaics | Prev topic | Next topic |
Much interest in near-field scattering has recently been raised due to its applicability in photovoltaics (PV; Atwater HA and Polman 2010a, Lee JY and Peumans 2010, Hägglund C and Kasemo 2009, Mendes MJ et al 2009, Luque A et al 2008). Here the aim is to improve absorption of light in the solar cell (SC) by embedding in the photoactive layers of the cell particles that can enhance the electric field via strong, resonant scattering which concentrates the EM power in those layers. The particle geometry and material can be optimized in order to maximize, through the concentration of the incident light power, the optical absorption in the PV layers (Lee JY and Peumans 2010). With the use of such particles, the amount of expensive PV material can be significantly reduced by constructing very thin SCs that feature strong light absorption. Besides, this would simultaneously improve the conditions for charge carrier collection and raise the SC efficiency by virtue of the concentrated energy density in the PV layers (Hägglund C and Kasemo 2009).
The ability to construct optically thick but physically very thin PV absorbers (for example, Hägglund C et al 2010) could revolutionize high-efficiency SC designs. This should also enable entirely new SC architectures in which light can be absorbed nearly completely, for example, in a single layer of quantum dots (Mendes MJ et al 2009). The extreme confinement of light that can be achieved within these structures can also enhance nonlinear effects such as up- and down-conversion of light or multiple carrier generation in novel SC geometries (Atwater HA and Polman 2010a).
Related topics: Near-field scattering in nanooptics and nanotechnology, The scattering regime depends on the relative particle size, Near-field light enhancement in the electrostatic regime, Near-field light enhancement in the intermediate regime at forward scattering, A scattering particle as an antenna
| CITATION: Mendes M. J. 2010. Near-field light scattering in photovoltaics (www.tpdsci.com/Tpc/ScaNfPV.php). In: Top. Part. Disp. Sci. (www.tpdsci.com). |
HISTORY: Published: 03-Dec-2010 Modified: 03-Dec-2010 Peer-reviewed: 14-Dec-2010 |
| Journals | Journals search | Contributing | | | Menu |
| Copyright 2005-2012 TPDSci Inc. All rights reserved. | Terms of use | |