Newly Developed Broadband Antireflective Nanostructures by Coating a Low-Index MgF₂ Film onto a SiO₂ Moth-Eye Nanopattern

Abstract

A newly developed nanopatterned broadband antireflective (AR) coating was fabricated on the front side of a glass/indium tin oxide/perovskite solar cell (PSC) by depositing a single interference layer onto a two-dimensional (2D)-patterned moth-eye-like nanostructure. The optimized developed AR nanostructure was simulated in a finite-difference time domain analysis. To realize the simulated developed AR nanostructure, we controlled the SiO₂ moth-eye structure with various diameters and heights and a MgF₂ single layer with varying thicknesses by sequentially performing nanosphere lithography, reactive ion etching, and electron-beam evaporation. Optimization of the developed AR nanostructure, which has a 100 nm-thick MgF₂ film coated onto the SiO₂ moth-eye-like nanostructure (diameter 165 nm and height 400 nm), minimizes the reflection loss throughout the visible range. As a result, the short-circuit current density (<i>J</i>_SC) of the newly AR-coated PSC increases by 11.80%, while the open-circuit voltage (<i>V</i>_OC) remains nearly constant. Therefore, the power conversion efficiency of the newly developed AR-decorated PSC increases by 12.50%, from 18.21% for a control sample to 20.48% for the optimum AR-coated sample. These results indicate that the newly developed MgF₂/SiO₂ AR nanostructure can provide an advanced platform technology that reduces the Fresnel loss and therefore increases the possibility of the commercialization of glass-based PSCs.