Theoretical and experimental study of light-nanoparticle interactions in high efficiency solar cells
- Autores: Frederic Cortés Juan
- Directores de la Tesis: Pablo Sanchis Kilders (dir. tes.), Carlos Sánchez Díaz (dir. tes.), James Patrick Connolly (dir. tes.)
- Lectura: En la Universitat Politècnica de València ( España ) en 2015
- Idioma: inglés
- Tribunal Calificador de la Tesis: Jenny Nelson (presid.), Verónica Bermúdez Benito (secret.), Ignacio Tobias Galicia (voc.)
- Materias:
- Enlaces
- Tesis en acceso abierto en: RiuNet
- Resumen
This thesis studies the optical properties of random arrays of metal nanoparticles in multilayered substrates such as a solar cell, as well as the electrooptic consequences for those substrates. This study difers from traditional models which assume independent spherical particles in an homogeneous medium. Moreover, the efects beyond the near field range are studied because substrates thicker than 150µm are used. The study in this thesis uses two main approaches: a) A theoretical approach based on simulations and analytical models. Starting with the traditional methods (Mie), alternatives are considered for considering the substrate efect, the shape of the nanoparticles as well as the efect of the surrounding nanoparticles. For this, the use of Green functions and the Sommerfeld identity are presented as interesting strategies against traditional numerical model that are not suitable due to the complexity of the system that leads to huge power, time and memory consumptions. Nevertheless, the analytical approach has its limits and dificulties, that are analysed in this thesis. The results obtained in the thesis are compared with experimental data and a critical analysis is performed to check the real suitability and the scope of this strategy for simulating these kinds of systems. b) An experimental approach, in which special attention has been paid to the self-aggregation method as a quick way of integrating the nanoparticles on the final device. Some issues have been detected and studied related with the degradation of the nanoparticles, and some strategies to minimise this efect are presented. Integrated samples have been prepared using diferent integration approaches. From the measurements and their analysis the infuence of the substrate and other factors on the nanoparticle behaviour is confrmed, and the enhancement potential of the solar cell is studied. This thesis has been carried out at Valencia Nanophotonics Technology Center (NTC, in Spain) partly in the context of the LIMA european project (FP7-ICT-2009.3.8) and has included a short term scientific mission at the Laboratory of Photonics and Nanostructures (CNRS-LPN) at Marcoussis (France).
