Boosting short circuit current with rationally designed periodic Si nanopillar surface texturing for thin film solar cell

This work experimentally investigates the impact of the large-scale rational-designed periodic Si nanopillar (SiNP) array structural parameters (e.g. diameter/ periodicity/ height) on the reflectance and hence the absorption of the SiNP array for the first time, and the results are in consistence with our theoretical prediction. Owing to the significantly enhanced light absorption of the optimized SiNP array texturing, a short circuit current density (J_sc) of 34.3mA/cm² is realized on planar p-n SiNP surface textured solar cell, which is the highest to date among reported Si nanowire (SiNW)/SiNP based solar cells. This is in distinct comparison to J_sc of 18.1 mA/cm² demonstrated on the solar cell without SiNP, which makes the SiNP array a suitable and promising texturing technology for thin film photovoltaic application (alike the micrometer-scale surface texturing commonly used in Si wafer solar cell).