Plasmonic Enhancement of Solar Cells Efficiency: Material Dependence in Semiconductor Metallic Surface Nano-Modification

Recent experimental data shown a promising direction in employing nano-plasmonics for increasing efficiencies of the solar cells. The effect is due to metallic nanoparticles’ plasmons mediating energy transfer from the incoming e-m wave to the semiconductor in a regime violating limits in energy transitions imposed by the momentum conservation, due to translational invariance departure in surface nano-modified system. The chapter presents analysis of material dependence of near-field coupling to band electrons of surface plazmons in metallic nanoparticles deposited on the top of semiconductor substrate in nano-modified solar cells. Various materials for metal and substrate are comparatively studied upon the quantum Fermi Golden Rule approach in theoretical quantitative modeling of the plasmon-electron coupling that enhances ordinary PV effect. The material dependence of the plasmon-mediated efficiency growth in two types of solar cells, multi-crystalline Si and CIGS (copper-indium-gallium-diselenide), modified by various surface-deposited metallic nanoparticles is additionally illustrated by the experimental data

Metallization of solar cells, exciton channel of plasmon photovoltaic effect in perovskite cells

Abstract Metallic nanoparticles are used to improve solar cell efficiency due to plasmon mediated photo-voltaic effect. We present various channels of this phenomenon in semiconductor solar cells with p − n junction and in chemical-type cells with exciton photovoltaic mechanism. Besides of previously known by plasmon strengthening of sun light absorption in metalized solar cells we have described the influence of plasmonic nanoparticles onto internal electricity of cells. The latter case we analyze on the example of hybridized perovskite solar cells regarded as most promising cells of III-rd generation. The explanation of recent experimental achievements with the metallization of perovskite cells is presented in comparison to the metallization of conventional Si-based cells

Plasmons and Plasmon–Polaritons in Finite Ionic Systems: Toward Soft-Plasmonics of Confined Electrolyte Structures

We address the field of soft plasmonics in finite electrolyte liquid systems ranged by insulating membranes by an analogy to the plasmonics of metallic nanostructures. The confined electrolyte systems can be encountered on a bio-cell organizational level, taking into account that the characteristics of ion plasmons fall to the micrometer size scale instead of the nanometer in metals because of at least three orders of magnitude larger masses of ions in comparison to electrons. The lower density of ions in electrolytes in comparison to density of electrons in metal may also reduce the energy of plasmons by several orders. We provide the fully analytical description of surface and volume plasmons in finite ionic micro-systems allowing for further applications. We next apply the theory of ionic plasmons to plasmon–polaritons in ionic periodic systems. The complete theory of ionic plasmon–polariton kinetics in the chain of micrometer-sized electrolyte spheres, confined by a dielectric membrane, is formulated and solved. The latter theory has next been applied to the explanation of a mysterious and unclear (for several dozen of years) problem of so-called saltatory conduction of the action potential in myelinated axons of nerve cells. Contrary to conventional models of nerve signaling, the plasmon–polariton model pretty well fits to the queer properties of the saltatory conduction. Moreover, the presented application of soft plasmonics to signaling in periodically myelinated axons may allow for identification of a different role in information processing of the white and gray matters in brain and spinal cord. We have outlined some perspectives to utilize the difference between the electricity of myelinated and non-myelinated nerve cells in brain to develop the topological concept of the memory functioning. The proposed ionic plasmon–polariton model of the saltatory conduction differently recognizes the role of the insulating myelin than previously was thought which may be helpful in the development of a better understanding of the demyelination diseases

Routes for Metallization of Perovskite Solar Cells

The application of metallic nanoparticles leads to an increase in the efficiency of solar cells due to the plasmonic effect. We explore various scenarios of the related mechanism in the case of metallized perovskite solar cells, which operate as hybrid chemical cells without p-n junctions, in contrast to conventional cells such as Si, CIGS or thin-layer semiconductor cells. The role of metallic nano-components in perovskite cells is different than in the case of p-n junction solar cells and, in addition, the large forbidden gap and a large effective masses of carriers in the perovskite require different parameters for the metallic nanoparticles than those used in p-n junction cells in order to obtain the increase in efficiency. We discuss the possibility of activating the very poor optical plasmonic photovoltaic effect in perovskite cells via a change in the chemical composition of the perovskite and through special tailoring of metallic admixtures. Here we show that it is possible to increase the absorption of photons (optical plasmonic effect) and simultaneously to decrease the binding energy of excitons (related to the inner electrical plasmonic effect, which is dominant in perovskite cells) in appropriately designed perovskite structures with multishell elongated metallic nanoparticles to achieve an increase in efficiency by means of metallization, which is not accessible in conventional p-n junction cells. We discuss different methods for the metallization of perovskite cells against the background of a review of various attempts to surpass the Shockley–Queisser limit for solar cell efficiency, especially in the case of the perovskite cell family