Title :
Effect of size on the scattering properties of silica nanoparticles
Author :
Das, Sonali ; Kundu, Avra ; Hossain, S.M. ; Saha, Hiranmay ; Datta, Swapan K.
Author_Institution :
Centre of Excellence for Green Energy & Sensor Syst., Indian Inst. of Eng. Sci. & Technol., Howrah, India
Abstract :
The effect of size on the scattering properties of silica nanoparticles on glass has been presented here. Silica nanoparticles of two different sizes (~50 nm and ~300 nm diameter) have been synthesized by a modified Stober technique and applied by spin coating on glass surface. Scattering properties of the nanoparticles have been studied experimentally. It is seen that larger nanoparticles have a higher scattering efficiency, which validates the simulation results obtained using Lumerical FDTD Solutions. As silica nanoparticles are essentially lossless in the AM1.5G solar spectrum, they will be (for solar cell applications) an alternative, as scatterers, to lossy metal nanoparticles. Their scattering efficiency further enhances upon them embedding in a medium. Two possible configurations of integrating silica nanoparticles with amorphous silicon solar cells are also presented.
Keywords :
amorphous semiconductors; elemental semiconductors; finite difference time-domain analysis; light scattering; nanofabrication; nanoparticles; particle size; silicon; silicon compounds; solar cells; AM1.5G solar spectrum; Lumerical FDTD solutions; SiO2; SiO2-Si; amorphous silicon solar cells; glass surface; modified Stober technique; scattering properties; silica nanoparticles; size effect; spin coating; Amorphous silicon; Glass; Nanoparticles; Photovoltaic cells; Scattering; Silicon compounds; Substrates; FWHM; scattering; silica nanoparticles; solar cells;
Conference_Titel :
Emerging Electronics (ICEE), 2014 IEEE 2nd International Conference on
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4673-6527-7
DOI :
10.1109/ICEmElec.2014.7151131
