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Nanosphere Concentrated Photovoltaics with Shape Control
Author(s) -
Seyedpour Esmaeilzad Nasim,
Demir Ahmet Kemal,
Hajivandi Jamileh,
Ciftpinar Hande,
Turan Rasit,
Kurt Hamza,
Bek Alpan
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
advanced optical materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.89
H-Index - 91
ISSN - 2195-1071
DOI - 10.1002/adom.202000943
Subject(s) - materials science , photovoltaics , optoelectronics , fabrication , photovoltaic system , optics , energy conversion efficiency , dielectric , ray , light scattering , photonics , plasmonic solar cell , scattering , polymer solar cell , medicine , ecology , alternative medicine , physics , pathology , biology
Dielectric colloidal nanospheres (NSs) are promising candidates for light management in photonic devices such as solar cells (SCs). NS arrays can direct the broad incident solar radiation into a set of tighter foci, at which light intensity becomes considerably concentrated, enabling higher photovoltaic conversion efficiency. Furthermore, the NS arrays acting as an effective medium on the SC surface can reduce reflectance and facilitate improved forward scattering. Therefore, uniform arrays of NSs located on top of the SC can behave as antireflection coatings or as microlenses, which can be regarded as a surface distributed light concentrator within the framework of concentrated photovoltaics. Fabrication of NS‐based light‐trapping structures is low‐cost and less complicated than common alternatives such as vacuum evaporated multilayer antireflection coatings. In this work, experimental demonstration and computational confirmation on the shape adjustment of such NS structures for improved light harvesting and efficiency enhancement in Si SCs are studied. The light conversion efficiency of Si solar cells is shown to improve by more than 27% with shape adjustment of NS arrays.