This paper reports a high-efficiency approach to improve the photoelectric-conversion efficiency of thin-film solar cells by plasmonic scattering and local near-field amplification of silver nanoparticles. We employ a three-dimensional (3D) electromagnetic model and use the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) and rigorously coupled-wave analysis methods to investigate the interaction of light with such a metallic particle. The numerical results show that the absorption and scattering spectra depend upon the properties of the embedded particles and the refractive index of the surrounding material. Strong redshifts and high-order modes are observed in the response spectrum with the increase of the particle size and the refractive index of the surrounding material. With an optimized design having P = 200, H = 135, and D = 70 nm, the performance of cell device is improved over a broad spectral range. Moreover, some of the absorption, in the resonance region, is beyond the Yablonovitch limit. The corresponding light-generated photocurrent is increased from 14.2 mA/cm² to 18.3 mA/cm², with a 28.9% enhancement compared with conventional cells with antireflective coatings (ARCs).

中文翻译：

---

用于薄膜太阳能电池中宽带和高效光捕获的银纳米粒子的优化设计

本文报道了一种通过等离子体散射和银纳米粒子的局部近场放大来提高薄膜太阳能电池光电转换效率的高效方法。我们采用三维 (3D) 电磁模型，并使用有限差分时域 (FDTD) 和严格耦合波分析方法来研究光与这种金属粒子的相互作用。数值结果表明，吸收和散射光谱取决于嵌入颗粒的性质和周围材料的折射率。随着周围材料的粒径和折射率的增加，响应光谱中观察到强烈的红移和高阶模式。具有优化设计磷 = 200,H = 135， 和D = 70 纳米，电池器件的性能在宽光谱范围内得到改善。此外，在共振区域中的一些吸收超出了 Yablonovitch 极限。相应的光生光电流从 14.2 mA/cm ²增加到 18.3 mA/cm ²，与具有抗反射涂层 (ARC) 的传统电池相比提高了 28.9%。