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Localization and imaging of local shunts in solar cells using polymer‐dispersed liquid crystals
Author(s) -
Schmidt Jan,
Dierking Ingo
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
progress in photovoltaics: research and applications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.286
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1099-159X
pISSN - 1062-7995
DOI - 10.1002/pip.378
Subject(s) - materials science , polymer , liquid crystal , foil method , solar cell , optics , optoelectronics , reflection (computer programming) , polymer solar cell , silicon , composite material , physics , computer science , programming language
Abstract An easy‐to‐use technique for the localization and imaging of local shunts in solar cells is introduced. The method is based on temperature‐sensitive polymer‐dispersed cholesteric liquid crystal foils, covering the reverse‐biased solar cell. The unique optical properties of the cholesteric liquid crystal, known as selective reflection, render the local shunts of a solar cell visible as a color distribution in the foil, which is directly correlated with the spatial shunt distribution. The novel method is applied to several laboratory and commercial silicon solar cells and its high sensitivity is demonstrated. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.