The effect of plasmonic particles on solar absorption in vertically aligned silicon nanowire arrays

In this paper, we used the finite-difference time domain method to determine whether metallic caps provide plasmonic enhancement of absorption in vertically aligned silicon nanowire arrays. Metallic caps result naturally from the vapor-liquid-solid growth process, which uses metal catalyst particles to initiate growth. We found that gold, copper, and silver catalysts all decrease the integrated optical absorption across the solar spectrum.In this paper, we used the finite-difference time domain method to determine whether metallic caps provide plasmonic enhancement of absorption in vertically aligned silicon nanowire arrays. Metallic caps result naturally from the vapor-liquid-solid growth process, which uses metal catalyst particles to initiate growth. We found that gold, copper, and silver catalysts all decrease the integrated optical absorption across the solar spectrum.

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