ELECTROCHEMICALLY DEPOSITED ZINC OXIDE NANOSTRUCTURES AS A NOVEL LIGHT-TRAPPING CONCEPT IN SILICON HETEROJUNCTION SOLAR CELLS

摘要

This work reports the antireflective properties of zinc oxide nanorod arrays implemented on top of silicon heterojunction solar cells with front contacts based on aluminium doped zinc oxide. This is proposed as a cheap, abundant and environment-friendly substitution for commonly used indium doped tin oxide. The results show a reduction in the average weighted cell reflectivity and hence an enhancement in the short circuit density by up to 8,8 % for cells with 300 nm AZO front contact. Zinc oxide nanorods are grown by electrochemical deposition, which is a low-cost and industrially applicable method, since no vacuum conditions and high temperatures are required.