Plasmonic hyperbolic metamaterial and nanosphere composite for light trapping as a solar cell: Numerical study

Abstract

Abstract ─ the solar cell with wider bandwidth is interesting more than the narrowband structure. Thus, the non-homogenous structure can be used to increase the bandwidth and absorption ratio. In addition, trapping more energy is an important factor for solar cells. Therefore, the hyperbolic metamaterial is developed to provide a non-homogeneous structure. The elements shape impact on the bandwidth and electric field enhancement. The hyperbolic absorber shows 107 % bandwidth which is covering 300 to 1100 nm and this technique can increase the bandwidth by more than 80%. In addition, as shown in this study, the hyperbolic structure can be underscored for increasing the electric and magnetic field by more than 1 dB, and thus this absorber can be used to intensity the power density to achieve higher efficiency. The Time Domain method of finite integration technique (FIT) is used for modeling the solar cell and the P3HT is investigated as the proposed substrate for the active layer. Moreover, the spacer material can impact the reflection and the SiN layer shows the best bandwidth and reflection.