Improving the absorption of solar cells using antenna-inspired cavities

We present new types of nanocavities to improve the absorption of solar cells for energy harvesting in wide frequency ranges of the optical spectrum. Using a full-wave approach, as opposed to the commonly used ray-based modeling of the light, antenna-inspired cavities with horn shapes are proposed and introduced. The effectiveness of the designed cavities is demonstrated in comparison to the conventional textures involving inverted pyramids and nanocones. Highly accurate numerical results show that solar-cell structures with horn-type cavities can provide excellent absorbance rates, even without using any matching layer.