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Near-field light concentration from plasmonic nanostructures was predicted to significantly improve solar cell conversion efficiency since the inception of plasmonic solar cells. However the challenge remains in designing effective nanostructures for useful near-field enhancement much exceeding the detrimental ohmic loss and light blockage losses in solar cells. We propose and demonstrate ultra-small (a few nanometers) gold nanoparticles integrated in amorphous silicon solar cells between the front electrode and the photoactive layer. Significant enhancements in both the photocurrent (14.1%) and fill factor (12.3%) have been achieved due to the strong plasmonic near-field concentration and the reduced contact resistance, respectively.

Photocurrent enhancement induced by plasmonic light trapping is of great interest for photovoltaics. We design and demonstrate hybrid plasmonic antireflection coatings as an efficient light trapping strategy for broadband absorption and photocurrent enhancement in crystalline silicon solar cells. Gold nanoparticles of size ranging from 15 to 150 nm are embedded in standard SiNx antireflection coatings with a thickness of 90 nm. Through optimizing the location of tailored nanoparticles within the SiNx layer, both light scattering enhancement and near-field light concentration can be harnessed. A maximum increase of 6.3% in photocurrent is achieved for textured multi-crystalline Si solar cells with the optimum configuration.

In this paper low cost and earth abundant Al nanoparticles are simulated and compared with noble metal nanoparticles Ag and Au for plasmonic light trapping in Si wafer solar cells. It has been found tailored Al nanoparticles enable broadband light trapping leading to a 28.7% photon absorption enhancement in Si wafers, which is much larger than that induced by Ag or Au. Once combined with the SiNx anti-reflection coating, Al nanoparticles can produce a 42.5% enhancement, which is 4.3% higher than the standard SiNx due to the increased absorption in both the blue and near-infrared regions.