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Plasmonic-based Solar Cell: Geometrical Optimization of 1D-nanostructured Grating for Enhanced Efficiency

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Abstract

This study reports the generation of surface plasmon polariton (SPPs) by varied geometrical effects of gold (Au) and silver (Ag) plasmonic grating to realize efficiency enhancement of solar cell by finite elemental analysis (FEA) using COMSOL RF module 5.3a. This technique is quite helpful for far-field and near-field analysis which is required for the confirmation of the excitation of the SPPs. Plasmonic effect can be utilized from metallic materials; the upshot of Au and Ag plasmonic grating assembly upon light absorption in a-Si photovoltaic device has been investigated. In this paper, various plasmonic grating coupling setups for Au and Ag have been designed and studied the transmission spectra with varying grating slit width sizes (80–540) nm and thicknesses 40 nm, 50 nm, and 60 nm but constant periodicity of unit cell (Λ = 720 nm). The slit width of 240 nm nearly one-third of periodicity of the grating is optimum for efficient excitation of the SPPs and hence contributes more for efficiency enhancement of the solar cell. Quite interestingly, resonance wavelength and its variation in full width at half maximum (FWHM) with fixed values of Au and Ag thicknesses has been observed. This paper also reports the study of coupling efficiency for Au and Ag plasmonic gratings. Effective excitation of SPPs inclines toward increased electric/magnetic fields in proximity of slit, henceforth growing the light absorption in substratum. This finding is associated with the existence of strongest plasmonic mode known as fundamental mode/harmonics. Variation in the electric field y-component (Ey) and electric field normal component (E_norm) across cross sectional length of solar cell for Au plasmonic grating with slit thickness of 50 nm has been reported to be efficient in a-Si thin-film solar cell to attain better photoabsorption. This type of geometry can be utilized for solar cells for enhanced absorption of solar spectrum to design an efficient photovoltaic device.

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Acknowledgements

The authors express their gratitude to the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Khalid University for funding this work through research groups program under grant number R.G.P. 2/151/43.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, University of Hazara, Mansehra, KPK, Pakistan

    Muzafer Iqbal & Muhammad Abrar

  2. Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Gujrat, Hafiz Hayat Campus, Gujrat, 50700, Pakistan

    Tahir Iqbal

  3. Department of Physics, Government Degree College Balakot (Higher Education Department—HED), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 21300, Pakistan

    Irfan Ahmed

  4. Physics Department, Faculty of Science, King Khalid University, P.O. Box 9004, Abha, 61413, Saudi Arabia

    M. A. Sayed, A. F. Abd El-Rehim & Atif Mossad Ali

  5. Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Assiut University, Assiut, 71516, Egypt

    Atif Mossad Ali

  6. State Key Laboratory of ASIC and System, Centre of Micro-Nano System, SIST, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, China

    Irfan Ahmed

Authors
  1. Muzafer Iqbal
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  2. Muhammad Abrar
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  3. Tahir Iqbal
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  4. Irfan Ahmed
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  6. A. F. Abd El-Rehim
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  7. Atif Mossad Ali
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Muzafer Iqbal. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Muzafer Iqbal and Muhammad Abrar, Irfan Ahmed, M. A. Sayed, A. F. Abd El-Rehim, and Atif Mossad Alicommented on previous versions of the manuscript. Muhammad Abrar and Tahir Iqbal supervised and authenticated the data. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Muhammad Abrar or Tahir Iqbal.

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Iqbal, M., Abrar, M., Iqbal, T. et al. Plasmonic-based Solar Cell: Geometrical Optimization of 1D-nanostructured Grating for Enhanced Efficiency. Plasmonics 17, 2491–2520 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-022-01717-5

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