Design and Optimization of the Antireflective Coating Properties of Silicon Solar Cells by Using Response Surface Methodology

Abstract

The design and optimization of a nanostructured antireflective coatings for Si solar cells were performed by using response surface methodology (RSM). RSM was employed to investigate the effect on the overall optical performance of silicon solar cells coated with three different nanoparticle materials of titanium dioxide, aluminum oxide, and zinc oxide nanostructures. Central composite design was used for the optimization of the reflectance process and to study the main effects and interactions between the three process variables: nanomaterial type, the radius of nanoparticles, and wavelength of visible light. In this theoretical study, COMSOL Multiphysics was utilized to design the structures by using the wave optics module. The optical properties of the solar cell’s substrate and the three different nanomaterial types were studied. The results indicated that ZnO nanoparticles were the best antireflective coating candidate for Si, as the ZnO nanoparticles produced the lowest reflection values among the three nanomaterial types. The study reveals that the optimum conditions to reach minimum surface reflections for silicon solar cell were established by using ZnO nanoparticles with a radius of ~38 nm. On average, the reflectance reached ~5.5% along the visible spectral range, and approximately zero reflectance in the 550–600 nm range.

Taguchi method and Box-Behnken design approach for process parameter optimization of magnetite (Fe3O4) coating developed on stainless steel 410 grade by hot alkaline treatment

“…The central composite design was used to evaluate the effect of process variables and to optimize the reflection from the surface of the Si substrate. 27…”

“…The study revealed that zinc oxide-coated Si substrates established a minimum reflectance of 5% at a visible wavelength 550 to 600 nm range, that is, zinc oxide-coated Si can absorb most of the incident light in the visible region. 27 Similarly, c-Si substrates were coated with a highly transparent, conductive poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate polymer using spin coating methodology. In this study, the reflectance was measured using a UV-vis spectrophotometer and it was seen that the coated sample can reduce the reflectance of the silicon substrate by approximately 22% compared with a non-coated silicon substrate at 650 nm wavelength.…”

“…The central composite design was used to evaluate the effect of process variables and to optimize the reflection from the surface of the Si substrate. 27 The combination of Taguchi and RSM was also adopted in process parameter optimization. The oxide dispersion strengthened nickel-based superalloy using selective laser melting has been reported.…”

Amorphous carbon nitride dual-function anti-reflection coating for crystalline silicon solar cells

“…Reflection losses arise due to the impedance mismatch induced by the sudden change in refractive index at the interface from low refractive index air (n = 1) to high refractive index silicon (n = 4). To address this issue, numerous materials and interface designs have been suggested to minimize the reflection losses of c-Si solar cells, including proper silicon surface texturing, subwavelength structures 3 , 8 , plasmonic nanoparticle surfaces 9 , nanostructured silicon 10 , the surface passivation approach 11 , 12 , and application of dielectric coating as a single or multi-layer anti-reflective coating (ARC) 13 – 16 . A dielectric ARC with a thickness of a quarter wavelength (λ/4n) has been widely used to reduce reflections and enhance c-Si solar cell efficiency.…”

“…For several decades, titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) was preferred to be used as the ARC for c-Si solar cells because of its refractive index (n = 2) and for chemical stability 17 , 18 . Today, various materials and thin films are used as ARCs, including Al 2 O 3 19 , ZnS 20 , ZnO 9 , 21 , MgF 2 22 , SiO 2 13 , 23 , SiOx 24 , Si 3 N 4 4 , 25 , SiNx 26 – 29 , and SiOxNy 30 . Among these materials, SiNx has become the most preferred ARC for the silicon solar cell because of its superior optical properties, such as its tunable refractive index, which can be ranged between 1.9 and 2.9 by controlling the deposition process 31 .…”