Influence of Ag NPs shape and metal oxide shell embedded in the active layer of Si-based hybrid plasmonic solar cells on device efficiency

Abstract

In this research, via embedding the plasmonic metallic nanostructure of dome shape Ag coated with MoO3 in the active layer of a hybrid Si solar cell, the device efficiency significantly improved. The effect of Ag nanostructures shape and metal oxide coated material implanted in Poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene:Poly (styrenesulfonate)/c-Si (PEDOT:PSS) as an active layer of hybrid solar cells (HSC) on improvements of photocurrent was extensively investigated. HSC with an Ag nanodome shape and MoO3 shell showed an open circuit voltage (Voc) of 0.88 V, an electrical short circuit current density (Jsc) of 38.42 mA cm−2, and a fill factor (FF) of 0.82. The energy conversion efficiency was considerably increased from 15.60% for HSC solar cells having nanopyramid Ag with SiO2 shell to 28.02% for nanodome Ag with MoO3 shell. The localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) phenomenon, photogenerated charge recombination, and incident photon scattering and absorption behavior all contribute to this improvement.