Enhanced light trapping in carrier selective solar cells using photonic nanostructures

Passivated, carrier-selective contacts have enabled a recent surge in the efficiency of crystalline silicon solar cells by reducing the Shockley-Read-Hall recombination at the electrical contacts for the cell. They operate by allowing the extraction of only the majority carriers from the absorber, i.e., the c-Si wafer. The molybdenum oxide and nickel stack is known to form an effective hole-selective contact. However, the parasitic optical losses they introduced limit the quantum efficiency and therefore efficiency of solar cells featuring these materials. In this work, we introduce photonic nanostructures with reduced parasitic losses in the contacts and enhancement of light trapping in the active area of the cell. The optimized structure shows its potential for increasing photogenerated current density and efficiency as a result.