Nanostructures for Light Trapping in Thin Film Solar Cells

摘要： Thin ?lm solar cells are one of the important candidates utilized to reduce the cost of photovoltaic production by minimizing the usage of active materials. However, low light absorption due to low absorption coe?cient and/or insu?cient active layer thickness can limit the performance of thin ?lm solar cells. Increasing the absorption of light that can be converted into electrical current in thin ?lm solar cells is crucial for enhancing the overall e?ciency and in reducing the cost. Therefore, light trapping strategies play a signi?cant role in achieving this goal. The main objectives of light trapping techniques are to decrease incident light re?ection, increase the light absorption, and modify the optical response of the device for use in di?erent applications. Nanostructures utilize key sets of approaches to achieve these objectives, including gradual refractive index matching, and coupling incident light into guided modes and localized plasmon resonances, as well as surface plasmon polariton modes. In this review, we discuss some of the recent developments in the design and implementation of nanostructures for light trapping in solar cells. These include the development of solar cells containing photonic and plasmonic nanostructures. The distinct bene?ts and challenges of these schemes are also explained and discussed.