Performance analysis of ordered silicon nanowire solar cells using photocurrent spectroscopy
Fatima Yaseen Abdullah1
Corresponding Author : Fatima Yaseen Abdullah
Recieved : 04-March-2025; Revised : 17-February-2026; Accepted : 20-February-2026
Abstract
Solar cells (SCs) using ordered silicon nanowires (SiNWs) were fabricated, and their efficiency was analyzed using photocurrent spectroscopy. The use of ordered SiNWs led to an SC efficiency of up to 16%, compared to that of a thin-layer silicon SC. The impacts of wire gauge and arrangement on the efficiency of SCs were analyzed, revealing that a sequential arrangement of ordered SiNWs can increase the external quantum efficiency (EQE) by up to 80%. A comprehensive mechanical analysis of the ordered SiNWs of SC showed that using ordered SiNWs improves carrier transport and reduces the loss of voltage and current generated at high temperatures. Photocurrent spectroscopy was used to measure the optical efficiency produced by SCs with ordered SiNWs, and the results showed that an SC made from ordered SiNWs achieved significantly higher efficiency compared to a traditional silicon SC. The study demonstrates the potential of ordered SiNWs as an effective material to enhance SC performance. This study provides insight of these nanowires (NWs) for achieving maximum efficiency.
Keywords
Solar cells, Silicon nanowires, External quantum efficiency, Photocurrent spectroscopy, Carrier transport.
Cite this article
Abdullah FY. Performance analysis of ordered silicon nanowire solar cells using photocurrent spectroscopy. International Journal of Advanced Technology and Engineering Exploration. 2026;13(136):380-392. DOI : 10.19101/IJATEE.2025.121220301
[1] Rehman F, Syed IH, Khanam S, Ijaz S, Mehmood H, Zubair M, et al. Fourth-generation solar cells: a review. Energy Advances. 2023; 2(9):1239-62.
[2] Urbina A. The balance between efficiency, stability and environmental impacts in perovskite solar cells: a review. Journal of Physics: Energy. 2020; 2(2):1-26.
[3] Mariotti N, Bonomo M, Fagiolari L, Barbero N, Gerbaldi C, Bella F, et al. Recent advances in eco-friendly and cost-effective materials towards sustainable dye-sensitized solar cells. Green Chemistry. 2020; 22(21):7168-218.
[4] Ratnesh RK, Kumar R, Singh S, Chandra R, Singh J. Recent advances in solar cell technology: addressing technological challenges, scenarios, and environmental implications in the development of sustainable energy solutions. New Journal of Chemistry. 2025; 49(17):6861-87.
[5] Maka AO, Alabid JM. Solar energy technology and its roles in sustainable development. Clean Energy. 2022; 6(3):476-83.
[6] Almosni S, Delamarre A, Jehl Z, Suchet D, Cojocaru L, Giteau M, et al. Material challenges for solar cells in the twenty-first century: directions in emerging technologies. Science and Technology of Advanced Materials. 2018; 19(1):336-69.
[7] Kumari N, Singh SK, Kumar S. A comparative study of different materials used for solar photovoltaics technology. Materials Today: Proceedings. 2022; 66:3522-8.
[8] Di SM, Hendawi R, Garcia AS. Silicon solar cells: trends, manufacturing challenges, and AI perspectives. Crystals. 2024; 14(2):1-15.
[9] Sajadian SF, Mortazavifar SL. Optimization of irregular nanowire arrays for broadband light absorption in silicon solar cells. Journal of Optics. 2025:1-16.
[10] Naffeti M, Zaïbi MA, García-arias AV, Chtourou R, Postigo PA. Efficient diode performance with improved effective carrier lifetime and absorption using bismuth nanoparticles passivated silicon nanowires. Nanomaterials. 2022; 12(21):1-13.
[11] Shaker LM, Al-amiery AA, Hanoon MM, Al-azzawi WK, Kadhum AA. Examining the influence of thermal effects on solar cells: a comprehensive review. Sustainable Energy Research. 2024; 11(1):1-30.
[12] Zhang Y, Liu H. Nanowires for high-efficiency, low-cost solar photovoltaics. Crystals. 2019; 9(2):1-25.
[13] Kim G, Lim JW, Kim J, Yun SJ, Park MA. Transparent thin-film silicon solar cells for indoor light harvesting with conversion efficiencies of 36% without photodegradation. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. 2020; 12(24):27122-30.
[14] Gupta SP, Bhardwaj A. Green nano-composites for energy conversion and storage. In materials for boosting energy storage, volume 2: advances in sustainable energy technologies 2024 (pp. 299-319). American Chemical Society.
[15] Yang B, Cang J, Li Z, Chen J. Nanocrystals as performance-boosting materials for solar cells. Nanoscale Advances. 2024; 6(5):1331-60.
[16] Thomas S, Kalarikkal N, Oluwafemi OS, Wu J. Nanomaterials for solar cell applications. Elsevier; 2019.
[17] Baig N, Kammakakam I, Falath W. Nanomaterials: a review of synthesis methods, properties, recent progress, and challenges. Materials Advances. 2021; 2(6):1821-71.
[18] Denisyuk I, Fokina M. A review of high nanoparticles concentration composites: semiconductor and high refractive index materials. InTech; 2010.
[19] Solak EK, Irmak E. Advances in organic photovoltaic cells: a comprehensive review of materials, technologies, and performance. RSC Advances. 2023; 13(18):12244-69.
[20] Soley SS, Dwivedi AD. Advances in high efficiency crystalline silicon homo junction solar cell technology. In AIP Conference Proceedings 2019. AIP Publishing LLC.
[21] Bhattacharya S, John S. Beyond 30% conversion efficiency in silicon solar cells: a numerical demonstration. Scientific Reports. 2019; 9(1):1-15.
[22] Andreani LC, Bozzola A, Kowalczewski P, Liscidini M, Redorici L. Silicon solar cells: toward the efficiency limits. Advances in Physics: X. 2019; 4(1):1-24.
[23] Köhler M, Pomaska M, Procel P, Santbergen R, Zamchiy A, Macco B, et al. A silicon carbide-based highly transparent passivating contact for crystalline silicon solar cells approaching efficiencies of 24%. Nature Energy. 2021; 6(5):529-37.
[24] Kowsar A, Farhad SF, Rahaman M, Islam MS, Imam AY, Debnath SC, et al. Progress in major thin-film solar cells: growth technologies, layer materials and efficiencies. International Journal of Renewable Energy Research. 2019; 9(2):579-97.
[25] Shah DK, Choi J, Kc D, Akhtar MS, Kim CY, Yang OB. Refined optoelectronic properties of silicon nanowires for improving photovoltaic properties of crystalline solar cells: a simulation study. Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics. 2021; 32(3):2784-95.
[26] Mahmoud AH, Hameed MF, Hussein M, Obayya SS. Optical and electrical characteristics of highly efficient flower-shaped silicon nanowires solar cell. Optical and Quantum Electronics. 2023; 55(4):1-20.
[27] Syu HJ, Shiu SC, Lin CF. Silicon nanowire/organic hybrid solar cell with efficiency of 8.40%. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells. 2012; 98:267-72.
[28] Sharma D, Saroha J, Diksha, Vashishtha P, Sharma SN, Ahnood A, et al. Enhanced performance of flexible hybrid solar cells via silver nanoparticle incorporation. ACS Applied Nano Materials. 2024; 7(20):23927-37.
[29] Jbira E, Derouiche H. Are silicon nanowires hybrid solar cells capable of being more efficient and cheaper? Inorganic Chemistry Communications. 2025: 115835.
[30] Shen L, Sun K, Xi F, Jiang Z, Li S, Wang Y, et al. Conversion of photovoltaic waste silicon into amorphous silicon nanowire anodes. Energy & Environmental Science. 2025;18(9):4348-61.
[31] Anttu N, Fiordaliso EM, Garcia JC, Vescovi G, Lindgren D. Analysis of nanowire PN-junction with combined current–voltage, electron-beam-induced current, cathodoluminescence, and electron holography characterization. Micromachines. 2024; 15(1):1-11.
[32] Feng Y, Zhao S, Liang P, Xia Z, Peng H. Application of silicon nanowires. Current Nanoscience. 2025; 21(3):373-84.
[33] Sharma D, Sharma RK, Srivastava A, Komarala VK, Ahnood A, Prathap P, et al. Silicon nanowire-incorporated efficient and flexible PEDOT: PSS/silicon hybrid solar cells. Sustainable Energy & Fuels. 2024; 8(13):2969-80.
[34] Shaker LM, Al-amiery AA, Hanoon MM, Al-azzawi WK, Kadhum AA. Examining the influence of thermal effects on solar cells: a comprehensive review. Sustainable Energy Research. 2024; 11(1):1-30.
[35] Truong T, Kang D, Wang EC, Wang J, Phang SP, Macdonald D, et al. Ex-situ phosphorus-doped polycrystalline silicon passivating contacts for high-efficiency solar cells by physical vapour deposition. Solar Energy. 2023; 255:285-91.
[36] Zhou W, Liu Q, Huang Q. Reversing silicon carbide into 1D silicon nanowires and graphene-like structures using a dynamic magnetic flux template. Materials Horizons. 2023; 10(4):1354-62.
[37] Raman S, A RS, M S. Advances in silicon nanowire applications in energy generation, storage, sensing, and electronics: a review. Nanotechnology. 2023; 34(18):182001.
[38] Pham DP, Kim H, Choi J, Oh D, Chung YB, Jeon WS, et al. In-situ PECVD-based stoichiometric SiO2 layer for semiconductor devices. Optical Materials. 2023; 137:113536.
[39] Shin EY, Choi SB, Lee JH, Yoo B, Han CJ, Park SH, et al. An inverted layer‐by‐layer process to enable ultrasmooth MXene–Ag nanowire hybrid electrode for organic photovoltaics. Solar RRL. 2023; 7(9):1-8.
[40] Green MA. Silicon solar cells: advanced principles & practice. Centre for Photovoltaic Devices and Systems, University of New South Wales; 1995.
[41] Saidani T, Rasheed M, Alshalal I, Rashed AA, Sarhan MA, Barille R, et al. Characterization of thin ITO/Au/ITO sandwich films deposited on glass substrates using DC magnetron sputtering. Research on Engineering Structures and Materials. 2024; 10(2):743-70.
[42] Giannozzi P, Andreussi O, Brumme T, Bunau O, Buongiorno NM, Calandra M, et al. Advanced capabilities for materials modelling with quantum ESPRESSO. Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter. 2017; 29(46):465901.
[43] Marini A, Hogan C, Grüning M, Varsano D. Yambo: an ab initio tool for excited state calculations. Computer Physics Communications. 2009; 180(8):1392-403.
[44] Otnes G, Borgström MT. Towards high efficiency nanowire solar cells. Nano Today. 2017; 12:31-45.
[45] Yu JBM, Jevasuwan W, Okada Y, Fukata N. Optimal performance of silicon nanowire solar cells under low sunlight concentration and their integration as bottom cells in III–V multijunction systems. Frontiers in Nanotechnology. 2024; 6:1-16.
[46] Dhindsa N, Saini SS. Comparison of ordered and disordered silicon nanowire arrays: experimental evidence of photonic crystal modes. Optics Letters. 2016; 41(9):2045-8.
[47] Farangi M, Zahedifar M, Mozdianfard MR, Pakzamir MH. Effects of silicon nanowires length on solar cells photovoltaic properties. Applied Physics A. 2012; 109(2):299-306.
[48] Badawy G, Bakkers EP. Electronic transport and quantum phenomena in nanowires. Chemical Reviews. 2024; 124(5):2419-40.
[49] Fuchs F, Gemming S, Schuster J. Radially resolved electronic structure and charge carrier transport in silicon nanowires. Physica E: Low-dimensional Systems and Nanostructures. 2019; 108:181-6.
[50] Shiri D, Nekovei R, Verma A. Low-temperature electron transport in 110 and 100 silicon nanowires: a DFT-Monte Carlo study. Frontiers in Nanotechnology. 2024; 6:1-7.
[51] Sahoo MK, Kale P. Integration of silicon nanowires in solar cell structure for efficiency enhancement: a review. Journal of Materiomics. 2019; 5(1):34-48.
[52] Gao S, Hong S, Park S, Jung HY, Liang W, Lee Y, et al. Catalyst-free synthesis of sub-5 nm silicon nanowire arrays with massive lattice contraction and wide bandgap. Nature Communications. 2022; 13(1):1-9.
[53] Wang S, Huang S, Zhao J. Effect of surface morphology changes on optical properties of silicon nanowire arrays. Sensors. 2022; 22(7):1-7.
[54] Bartschmid T, Wendisch FJ, Farhadi A, Bourret GR. Recent advances in structuring and patterning silicon nanowire arrays for engineering light absorption in three dimensions. ACS Applied Energy Materials. 2021; 5(5):5307-17.
[55] Ge Z, Xu L, Cao Y, Wu T, Song H, Ma Z, et al. Substantial improvement of short wavelength response in n-SiNW/PEDOT: PSS solar cell. Nanoscale Research Letters. 2015; 10(1):1-8.
[56] Gonchar KA, Zubairova AA, Schleusener A, Osminkina LA, Sivakov V. Optical properties of silicon nanowires fabricated by environment-friendly chemistry. Nanoscale Research Letters. 2016; 11(1):1-5.
[57] Islam O, Mahmood KS, Sarker D, Debnath J. The study of optical properties for ordered and disordered silicon nanowire structures. In international conference on telecommunications and photonics (ICTP) 2023 (pp. 1-5). IEEE.
[58] Mannai A, Choubani K, Dimassi W, Ben RM. Enhanced gettering of multicrystalline silicon using nanowires for solar cell applications. Inorganics. 2025; 13(11):1-10.