Multi-Objective Optimization of Thin-Film Silicon Solar Cells with Metallic and Dielectric Nanoparticles

Giovanni Aiello, Salvatore Alfonzetti, Santi Agatino Rizzo and Nunzio Salerno
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Giovanni Aiello: Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, University of Catania, Viale A. Doria 6, I-95125 Catania, Italy
Salvatore Alfonzetti: Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, University of Catania, Viale A. Doria 6, I-95125 Catania, Italy
Santi Agatino Rizzo: Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, University of Catania, Viale A. Doria 6, I-95125 Catania, Italy
Nunzio Salerno: Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, University of Catania, Viale A. Doria 6, I-95125 Catania, Italy

Energies, 2017, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Thin-film solar cells enable a strong reduction of the amount of silicon needed to produce photovoltaic panels but their efficiency lowers. Placing metallic or dielectric nanoparticles over the silicon substrate increases the light trapping into the panel thanks to the plasmonic scattering from nanoparticles at the surface of the cell. The goal of this paper is to optimize the geometry of a thin-film solar cell with silver and silica nanoparticles in order to improve its efficiency, taking into account the amount of silver. An efficient evolutionary algorithm is applied to perform the optimization with a reduced computing time.

Keywords: renewable energy; solar cell; nanoplamonics; optimization; evolutionary algorithms; finite element method (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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