Optimizing SiNWs shapes for improved solar cell performance

Author's Department

Physics Department

Second Author's Department

Physics Department

Find in your Library

https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3043669

All Authors

Mariam Elkoddosy Mohamed A. Swillam

Document Type

Research Article

Publication Title

Proceedings of SPIE the International Society for Optical Engineering

Publication Date

1-1-2025

doi

10.1117/12.3043669

Abstract

Silicon nanowires, as a one-dimensional nanostructure with interesting optical and electrical properties, offer several advantages in many leading applications such as solar cells (which is a source of clean and renewable energy), including low cost because silicon is a highly abundant material, and the properties of nanowires allow for the use of less material and higher efficiency. In this study, several nanowire shapes are numerically investigated and integrated into different solar cells utilizing lumerical finite difference time domain to determine the generation rate and current density. The charge solver is used to examine electrical properties such as short circuit current, open circuit voltage, and power conversion efficiency (PCE). Since the dimensions of the nanowires greatly influence their attributes, this study looks at varying the diameter and length of the nanowires to improve the solar cell's PCE and light absorption in order to satisfy commercial demands. By optimizing the diameter of the two perpendicular ellipses to break the symmetry, a flower-shaped nanowire solar cell from earlier research is enhanced, resulting in a 2.76% higher PCE as well as better current density and light absorption, given that the PCE obtained by the literature is 9.6%. The PCE increased to 12.36% with the adjusted dimensions, the short circuit current density to 22.8227 mA/cm^2 from 18.68 mA/cm^2, and the open circuit voltage to 0.72 V from 0.68 V in the literature. The goal of the study is to compare various conical shapes to reduce the symmetry of nanowires in order to get better optical and electrical properties of the solar cell.

Link to Full Text
Find this item online

Share

COinS