Fabrication of Black Silicon Antireflection Coatings to Enhance Light Harvesting in Photovoltaics

Black silicon has attracted significant interest for various engineering applications, including solar cells, due to its ability to create highly absorbent surfaces or interfaces for light. It enhances light absorption in crystalline solar cells, improving the conversion efficiency of incident light into electricity for photovoltaic applications. This research focuses on fabricating nanostructures that play a critical role in enhancing light absorption on the upper layers of solar cells. These nanostructures were created using the black silicon method, forming a layer known as "black silicon." The coating not only improved the efficiency of crystalline solar cells but also enhanced their stability. The antireflection coating, composed of nanostructures with various shapes including conical, pillar-like, and spike-like forms achieved a reflectivity as low as 10% in the spectral range of 400–700 nm. This corresponded to a sample with α = 0.85 in 4W. An Inductively Coupled Plasma Reactive Ion Etching (ICP RIE) machine was employed to develop and control the specific shape, size, and density of the fabricated black silicon, which was then subjected to testing.