LAUSR

Abstract In this paper, a time-domain finite-difference (FDTD) method is used to simulate the scattering properties of a Janus dimer that a gold nanosphere is putted on the top of a silicon nanorod. We have demonstrated that the Janus dimer exhibits unidirectional scattering in the whole wavelength region of the sunlight. The unidirectionality of the dimer will improve with the height increase of the silicon nanorod and the gap decrease between two adjacent dimers. In our simulation, the forward-to-backward ratio (F/B) of the Janus dimer calculated dividing forward scattering spectra by backward scattering spectra can achieve the maximum of 20 when the height of silicon nanorod is 300 nm. What is more, we have applied the Janus dimers to amorphous silicon thin-film solar cells as antireflection structures. The reflectivity of the solar cells reduces by 39.40% and the short circuit current density improves by 5.04% than those of the reference. Therefore, the Janus dimers has a great application prospect in photovoltaic devices.