Investigation on zinc oxide as an antireflection coating on silicon-based solar cells using ray tracing

• Published in: Journal of Optics (United Kingdom)
• Main Author: Aziz N.A.S.; Yahaya Bermakai M.; Mohd Yusoff M.Z.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Institute of Physics 2025
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85214468081&doi=10.1088%2f2040-8986%2fad9845&partnerID=40&md5=322eb75e9a021039b4964b30e8122ad3

Since antireflective coating (ARC) has the ability to lessen optical loss experienced by solar cells, it is beginning to gain traction in the solar cell market. Without the use of ARC, the solar cell’s surface reflects about 30% of light and leads to a decrease in efficiency. The Zinc Oxide (ZnO) material has been chosen in this study as the ARC to study the enhancement of the solar cells’ performance using simulation approach. The ZnO layer is used as an ARC on top of the silicon based solar cell with certain thicknesses ranging from 60 to 90 nm. The optimum thickness of ZnO that results in the maximum current density is chosen for further modification on surface texturing. Four types of textured surface on the front surface of silicon based solar cell are proposed. It is shown that 80 nm thickness of ZnO ARC revealed the best performance in terms of current density generated which is reach 34.92 mA cm−2. Positive increment of current density is shown on further modification of surface texturing. Random inverted pyramids appear to be the best front surface with another 17.5% increment in current density. © 2025 IOP Publishing Ltd. All rights, including for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies, are reserved.