Impacts of Nanoparticles and Nano Rod Arrays on Optical Generation Rate in Plasmonic-Based Solar Cells

In this article, the effect of plasmonics properties of metal nanorods and nanoparticles on solar cell performance were investigated and simulated. Due to the classic solar cell disadvantages, it seems that a plasmonic solar cell is one of these methods. In plasmonic solar cells, because of plasmonic effect, a high electric field builds around metal nanoparticles so that high conversion efficiency is available. In this study, it is shown that the near-field electromagnetic wave severely affects the generation rate, which handles the carrier’s generation in the solar cell equations. By manipulating the plasmonic properties of nanoparticles or nanorods in solar cells structure, distribution of the electromagnetic fields are altered. In this work, optical power and generation rate related to the poynting vector is calculated. So, for improving the generation rate as an important parameter in solar cells, the alteration of nanoparticles or nanorods material, shape, inter-distance between them and medium material, are done. Finally, the comparison between classical solar cell and our improved structure is performed.