Numerical study of complementary nanostructures for light trapping in colloidal quantum dot solar cells

Abstract

We have investigated two complementary nanostructures, nanocavity and nanopillar arrays, for light absorption enhancement in depleted heterojunction colloidal quantum dot (CQD) solar cells. A facile complementary fabrication process is demonstrated for patterning these nanostructures over the large area required for light trapping in photovoltaic devices. The simulation results show that both proposed periodic nanostructures can effectively increase the light absorption in CQD layer of the solar cell throughout the near-infrared region where CQD solar cells typically exhibit weak light absorption. The complementary fabrication process for implementation of these nanostructures can pave the way for large-area, inexpensive light trapping implementation in nanostructured solar cells.