NDLI: Broadband Absorption Enhancement in Thin Film Solar Cells Using Inverse Optimization of Light Trapping Mechanisms

Content Provider	The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Digital Collection
Author	Hajimirza, Shima Heltzel, Alex Howell, John
Copyright Year	2012
Abstract	In this paper, global optimization techniques are used to design broadband solar absorption enhancement in thin film amorphous silicon (a-Si) solar cells, using periodic nanostructures on the top and bottom surfaces of the cell. Considering a combination of silver rectangular gratings and indium tin oxide (ITO) coatings on both surfaces of the a-Si, numerical optimization techniques such as Simulated Annealing and a local constrained Quasi-Newton algorithm are used to optimize the surface texture patterns. Numerical results indicate that, unlike the case of metallic gratings on the front surface, a periodic silver grating structure on the back surface results in a modification of the absorption spectrum largely independent of the effect of anti-reflection ITO coatings on the front of the cell. Furthermore, additional improvement can be obtained by using a thin rear surface ITO layers. Therefore, using a combination of metallic gratings and ITO coatings on both sides, a wideband absorption spectrum enhancement is achievable. Simulations predict integrated enhancement factors as high as 2.0 (100% improvement) for the case of metallic grating on the back surface and ITO layers on the front, and as high as 2.2 (120% improvement) when a combination of grating and ITO coatings on both sides is used. Such noteworthy improvements are made possible by efficient multi-parameter optimization supplanting an intractable exhaustive search.
Sponsorship	Nanotechnology Institute
Starting Page	559
Ending Page	567
Page Count	9
File Format	PDF
ISBN	9780791854778
DOI	10.1115/MNHMT2012-75065
Conference Proceedings	ASME 2012 Third International Conference on Micro/Nanoscale Heat and Mass Transfer
Language	English
Publisher Date	2012-03-03
Publisher Place	Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Access Restriction	Subscribed
Subject Keyword	Solar cells Diffraction gratings Reflection Nanostructures Coatings Optimization Thin films Design Silver Absorption Algorithms Simulation Simulated annealing Solar energy Silicon Engineering simulation Surface texture
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in