Hybrid Nanocone-Nanohole Light Trapping for High-Efficiency Thin-Film Silicon Solar Cells
Abstract
Thin-film silicon solar cells exhibit weak absorption at longer wavelengths of visible light due to their limited optical thickness. To overcome this inherent limitation, a hybrid nanocone-nanohole light-management architecture is proposed by integrating front-surface silicon nanocones with embedded air-filled nanoholes in the absorber layer. The nanocones provide a gradual refractive-index transition that suppresses front-surface reflection, while the nanoholes enhance optical confinement through multiple scattering and internal reflection. The structural parameters are systematically optimized using finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations coupled with electrical device modeling. Under optimized doping conditions and isothermal steady-state operation, the optimized design yields a short-circuit current density of 34.64 mA cm-2, an open-circuit voltage of 0.82 V, a fill factor of 86.27%, and a power conversion efficiency of 24.42%, representing a 17.74% improvement over a comparable nanohole-based design. Furthermore, coupled opto-electro-thermal simulations show that the proposed hybrid nanocone-nanohole structure retains 95.21% of its efficiency under non-isothermal operation up to45 degree celsius, demonstrating excellent thermal stability. These results highlight the potential of the proposed hybrid nanocone-nanohole design as an effective light-management strategy for high-efficiency and thermally robust thin-film silicon solar cells.
Related
- The role of density in shaping electron trapping in amorphous silicon nitride
- Enhanced Enantioselective Optical Trapping Enabled by Longitudinal Mie Resonances in Silicon Nanodisks
- About Carrier's Self‐Trapping and Dynamical Rashba Splitting in the 2D Hybrid Perovskite (BA)₂(MA)₂Pb₃l₁₀
- High-Efficiency Silicon-Lithium Niobate Grating Coupler enabled by Fully-Etched Subwavelength Structures
- Silicon Solar Cell Design for >30% Efficiency via Singlet Fission
BibTeX
@misc{tasnim2026hybrid,
title = {{Hybrid Nanocone-Nanohole Light Trapping for High-Efficiency Thin-Film Silicon Solar Cells}},
author = {Nishat Tasnim and Kawshik Nath and Ahmed Zubair},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.14396},
eprint = {2609.14396},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.14396},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Hybrid Nanocone-Nanohole Light Trapping for High-Efficiency Thin-Film Silicon Solar Cells
AU - Nishat Tasnim
AU - Kawshik Nath
AU - Ahmed Zubair
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/13
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.14396
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.14396
AB - Thin-film silicon solar cells exhibit weak absorption at longer wavelengths of visible light due to their limited optical thickness. To overcome this inherent limitation, a hybrid nanocone-nanohole light-management architecture is proposed by integrating front-surface silicon nanocones with embedded air-filled nanoholes in the absorber layer. The nanocones provide a gradual refractive-index transition that suppresses front-surface reflection, while the nanoholes enhance optical confinement through multiple scattering and internal reflection. The structural parameters are systematically optimized using finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations coupled with electrical device modeling. Under optimized doping conditions and isothermal steady-state operation, the optimized design yields a short-circuit current density of 34.64 mA cm-2, an open-circuit voltage of 0.82 V, a fill factor of 86.27%, and a power conversion efficiency of 24.42%, representing a 17.74% improvement over a comparable nanohole-based design. Furthermore, coupled opto-electro-thermal simulations show that the proposed hybrid nanocone-nanohole structure retains 95.21% of its efficiency under non-isothermal operation up to45 degree celsius, demonstrating excellent thermal stability. These results highlight the potential of the proposed hybrid nanocone-nanohole design as an effective light-management strategy for high-efficiency and thermally robust thin-film silicon solar cells.
ER -