Plasma-produced ZnO nanorod arrays as an antireflective layer in c-Si solar cells

In this work, we develop a simple customized radio-frequency plasma-enhanced horizontal tube furnace deposition system to directly grow high-quality ZnO nanorod arrays on zinc films and investigate their application as an antireflective layer in n⁺pp⁺ monocrystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells. Field emission scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffractometer, and transmission electron microscope studies reveal that ZnO nanorod arrays feature a perfect crystalline wurtzite structure and grow preferentially along [0001] direction. The antireflective performance of ZnO nanorod arrays is confirmed by Fresnel coefficient matrix method and MATLAB software calculation. Furthermore, PC1D simulation demonstrates that the photovoltaic property for c-Si solar cells of the pyramid-textured front surface using ZnO nanorod arrays as an antireflective layer is much better than that for the other three types of c-Si solar cells (i.e., c-Si solar cells of the pyramid-textured front surface without using any antireflective layer, c-Si solar cells of the planar front surface using ZnO nanorod arrays as an antireflective layer, as well as c-Si solar cells of the planar front surface without using any antireflective layer). In particular, the photovoltaic conversion efficiency of 20.23% has been achieved for c-Si solar cells of the pyramid-textured front surface using ZnO nanorod arrays as an antireflective layer. This work is highly relevant to the development of an advanced process for the realization of high-efficiency, low-cost, and stable solar cells.