Strain-tuned light trapping performance of plasmonic solar cells

For the first time, we utilize the mechanical strain to tailor the locallized surface plasmon resonance of metallic nanoparticles on the top of a thin-film solar cell and improve the light trapping efficiency of corresponding plasmonic solar cell. A plasmonic solar cell is constructed by depositing metallic nanoparticle array on top of a thin-film solar cell to enhance the light trapping efficiency through activating surface plasmon. When the mechanical strain is applied on these metallic nanoparticles, their surface plasmon resonance will be tuned, which may eventually enhance the performance of underlying thin-film solar cell. Through numerical experiments, we demonstrate that 5% compressive strain could remarkably improve the absorption of the metal nanoparticle array on the top of thin-film solar cell by more than 24%.