Plasmonic effects of silver nanoparticles with various dimensions embedded and non-embedded in silicon dioxide antireflective coating on silicon solar cells

Plasmonic effects of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) of various dimensions embedded and non-embedded in silicon dioxide antireflective coating (SiO2 ARC) deposited by electron-beam evaporation on silicon (Si) solar cells are characterized. Raman scattering and absorbance measurements were used to examine plasmonic resonance absorption of Ag NPs with various particle dimensions and different dielectric environments. The obtained Raman and absorbance results revealed that the large dimensions of Ag NPs exhibited much impressive plasmonic resonance absorption. Furthermore, optical reflectance and photovoltaic current–voltage measurements were also used to confirm the photovoltaic performance enhancement inducing by plasmonic forward scattering of Ag NPs of various dimensions. Thus, the efficiency enhancement of 3.64, 7.42, and 10.24% for the solar cells with Ag NPs in diameter of 21, 25, 32 nm, respectively, embedded in SiO2 ARC was achieved due to plasmonic scattering inducing by Ag NPs, compared to the cell with a pure SiO2 ARC without Ag NPs.