Photovoltaic Performance of a Nanowire/Quantum Dot Hybrid Nanostructure Array Solar Cell

• Main Authors: Yao Wu, Xin Yan, Xia Zhang, Xiaomin Ren
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SpringerOpen 2018-02-01
• Series: Nanoscale Research Letters
• Subjects: Nanowire array; Quantum dot; Photovoltaic; Nanophotonics and photonic crystals
• Online Access: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s11671-018-2478-5
• ISSN: 1931-7573; 1556-276X

Abstract An innovative solar cell based on a nanowire/quantum dot hybrid nanostructure array is designed and analyzed. By growing multilayer InAs quantum dots on the sidewalls of GaAs nanowires, not only the absorption spectrum of GaAs nanowires is extended by quantum dots but also the light absorption of quantum dots is dramatically enhanced due to the light-trapping effect of the nanowire array. By incorporating five layers of InAs quantum dots into a 500-nm high-GaAs nanowire array, the power conversion efficiency enhancement induced by the quantum dots is six times higher than the power conversion efficiency enhancement in thin-film solar cells which contain the same amount of quantum dots, indicating that the nanowire array structure can benefit the photovoltaic performance of quantum dot solar cells.