Simulation results for the PV cell based on the photonic crystal.

This work aims to enhance the performance of a photo voltaic (PV) solar cell consisting of four layers: SiNx thin film sandwiched between glass and graded index metamaterials (GIM) topped by air. In particular, the work is aiming to widen the bandwidth at which the PV has near zero reflection and high transmission as close to 1. To satisfy the aim of the work, a 1-D photonic crystal (PC) with a specific structure is added to the top of the PV to minimize reflection. Then, the photonic crystal is used to surround the PV. In this case, PC consists of an alternating layer of polymer-dopped nanoparticles and air. In the calculations, the transfer matrix method (TMM) is used to calculate the transmittance as well as the reflectance for both systems at different layers' thicknesses. Then compared results for PV alone with PV topped with PC and PV surrounded by PC. It is found that using PC to encapsulate PV gives better results where PV will have almost zero reflection for a large range of spectrum compared to PC topping PV and PV without PC. The highest transmission and lowest reflections occur at n 2 = 2.2, d 1 = 40 nm and d 2 = 40 nm where transmission is higher than.8 and reflection are below 0.2. Thus, the proposed structure is capable of reducing power dissipation and enhancing the efficiency of the solar cell. It is recommended to add a PC to surround PV to get a wider range of spectrum at which transmittance is close to 1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]