Design and characterization of a dual-band perfect metamaterial absorber for solar cell applications


Rufangura P., Sabah C.

JOURNAL OF ALLOYS AND COMPOUNDS, vol.671, pp.43-50, 2016 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 671
  • Publication Date: 2016
  • Doi Number: 10.1016/j.jallcom.2016.02.066
  • Journal Name: JOURNAL OF ALLOYS AND COMPOUNDS
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.43-50
  • Keywords: Dual-band, Metamaterial, Absorber, Solar cells, NEGATIVE REFRACTION, INCIDENT ANGLE, POLARIZATION, MICROWAVE, FREQUENCIES, REGIME, SLAB
  • Middle East Technical University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

This paper proposes a metamaterial absorber design for solar energy harvesting using a simplified and symmetric structure. A unit cell of this design consists of three important layers namely, the bottom metallic layer, which is gold lossy, the intermediate layer: made of a lossy dielectric material that is gallium arsenide and patches which formed by a combination of gold and gallium arsenide. These three important layers are being carefully arranged at the top of a dielectric spacer. The geometric structure was being examined for its contribution towards absorption characteristics. The simulation results show outstanding dual-bands absorption (99.96% and 99.37%) in the visible frequency regime of electromagnetic wave. Due to the excellent symmetric nature of the proposed structure, its absorptance capacity exhibits polarization insensitivity for a wide range of incident angles for electromagnetic radiation. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.