Plasmonic Effects in Meta-materials to Enhance the Efficiency of Photon Absorption in Photovoltaic Cells

By manipulating the electromagnetic fields at the nano-scale, meta-materials can improve absorption rate across a broader range of the solar spectrum. The nano-scaled structure enables the plasmonic solar cells to use thinner layers of photovoltaic materials, which can reduce material costs and make solar cells lighter and more flexible, opening up new applications and installation options. They crop light within the photo-active layer of a solar cell unit more effectively than conventional designs, adjusting the strength and the path length of light within the solar cell and thereby enhancing the absorption of photons. The localized electromagnetic field in the plasmonic nanostructures can be manipulated using the incident light. This occurs by exciting electrons in the semiconductor material of the solar cell. This research experimented with the unit by tuning the layers in solar cell models to absorb light across the solar spectrum efficiently.  Tested variables include various types of nano-particles in the dielectric layer and wavelengths that are not efficiently absorbed by traditional photovoltaic materials.

In this paper, metamaterials were engineered based on theoretical and computational simulation experiments. Presented research was performed to improve the efficiency of single-period and multi-layered metal-dielectric layers in the solar cell under standard and non-standard illumination conditions. A few proposed composite structures displayed the surface plasmon polariton(SPP) phenomenon efficiently by capturing photons of various wavelengths. Through the computer simulations on the photoactive layers, optimum incident angles to maximize the absorption of the light energy were calculated. Various effects of surface plasmon polariton(SPP) were observed when changing the optical variables and geometrical conditions. 

This research shows that plasmonic effects can help to achieve high efficiency by allowing sub-wavelength control over testing the various light absorption and enabling the utilization of high-energy electrons generated by plasmon decay. This approach not only improves energy conversion efficiency but also provide potentials for the design and application of lighter and flexible solar cell units.