Polarization-insensitive broadband omni-directional anti-reflection in ZnO nanoneedle array for efficient solar energy harvesting

Broadband omni-directional anti-reflection characteristics have been an important issue because they can maximize the optical absorption in photovoltaic devices. Here, we investigate the optical properties of ZnO nanoneedle arrays to demonstrate broadband anti-reflection, omni-directionality, and polarization insensitivity using optical simulations and experimental approaches. The results of this work clarify that the ZnO nanoneedle array plays an important role as a broadband anti-reflection layer due to its spatially graded refractive index, omni-directionality and polarization insensitivity. To take advantage of these structures, we prepared a ZnO nanoneedle array on the surface of conventional SiN(x)/planar Si solar cells to prove the broadband omni-directional anti-reflection for solar energy harvesting. Current density–voltage results show that SiN(x)/planar Si solar cells with ZnO nanoneedle arrays lead to a nearly 20% increase in power conversion efficiency compared to SiN(x)/planar Si solar cells, and a 9.3% enhancement in external quantum efficiency is obtained under identical conditions. Moreover, the photocurrent results of SiN(x)/planar Si solar cells with ZnO nanoneedle arrays clearly demonstrate the incident angle- and polarization-insensitive characteristics compared to those of typical SiN(x)/planar Si solar cells. Our results demonstrate the optical multi-functionality of ZnO nanoneedle arrays and pave the way for high-performance optoelectronic devices that require broadband omni-directional anti-reflection and polarization insensitivity.