Two-dimensional disorder for broadband, omnidirectional and polarization-insensitive absorption

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that two-dimensional disordered nanostructures can enhance broadband, omnidirectional, and polarization-insensitive light absorption in thin-film solar cells, offering a promising alternative to deterministic photonic designs.

Contribution

It introduces the use of disordered nanostructures for light trapping in solar cells, showing experimental evidence of their broadband and angle-insensitive absorption enhancement.

Findings

Disordered nanostructures improve light absorption across a broad spectrum.

Enhanced absorption is maintained over various incident angles.

Disorder-induced modes facilitate broadband light trapping.

Abstract

The surface of thin-film solar cells can be tailored with photonic nanostructures to allow light trapping in the absorbing medium. This in turn increases the optical thickness of the film and thus enhances their absorption. Such a coherent light trapping is generally accomplished with deterministic photonic architectures. Here, we experimentally explore the use of a different nanostructure, a disordered one, for this purpose. We show that the disorder-induced modes in the film allow improvements in the absorption over a broad range of frequencies and impinging angles.