Indium-Tin-Oxide Nanowhiskers Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaics Combining Micro- and Nano-Scale Surface Textures

Abstract

In this work, we present a solution that employs combined micro- and nano-scale surface textures to increase light harvesting in the near infrared for crystalline silicon photovoltaics, and discuss the associated antireflection and scattering mechanisms. The combined surface textures are achieved by uniformly depositing a layer of indium-tin-oxide nanowhiskers on passivated, micro-grooved silicon solar cells using electron-beam evaporation. The nanowhiskers facilitate optical transmission in the near-infrared, which is optically equivalent to a stack of two dielectric thin-films with step- and graded- refractive index profiles. The ITO nanowhiskers provide broadband anti-reflective properties (R < 5%) in the wavelength range of 350-1100nm. In comparison with conventional Si solar cell, the combined surface texture solar cell shows higher external quantum efficiency (EQE) in the range of 700-1100nm. Moreover, the ITO nanowhisker coating Si solar cell shows a high total efficiency increase of 1.1% (from 16.08% to17.18%). Furthermore, the nanowhiskers also provide strong forward scattering for ultraviolet and visible light, favorable in thin-wafer silicon photovoltaics to increase the optical absorption path.