Angular dependent Mie theory for nanowire photovoltaics

Samenvatting

Semiconductor nanowires have been intensively investigated for photovoltaic applications because of their unique optical properties. Nanowire-based solar cells are believed to offer high operating effeciency at lower fabrication cost due to resonant interaction with light and therefore, efficient light absorption. Light interaction with nanowires is commonly described by Mie theory. In the last few years, experimental studies on light scattering and absorption in nanowires, as a function of the nanowire diameter and wavelength of incident light, have been successfully described with Mie theory. However, light absorption in nanowires as a function of the angle of incidence has only been studied theoretically. For this thesis, the angle-dependent light absorption in individual indium phosphide nanowires has been studied experimentally using a time-reversed Fourier microscope. Our results show that Mie theory fails to describe the angle-dependent light absorption in vertically-oriented nanowires. Since many nanowire-based solar cell designs utilize this nanowire orientation, this is an important result. We conclude that for maximizing the absorption in nanowire-based solar cells, other light absorption mechanisms need to be taken into account besides of those considered in Mie theory.

Datum prijs	31 mrt. 2013
Originele taal	Engels
Begeleider	Grzegorz Grzela (Afstudeerdocent 1) & Jaime Gómez Rivas (Afstudeerdocent 2)