A Comprehensive Photonic Approach for Solar Cell Cooling

Li, Wei; Shi, Yu; Chen, Kaifeng; Zhu, Linxiao; Fan, Shanhui

doi:10.1021/acsphotonics.7b00089

Cited by 287 publications

(222 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…In addition, for daytime cooling, high reflectivity in the entire solar spectral range (i.e., 300–4000 nm) is required to minimize heat generation from the absorbed solar power. Potential applications of these daytime coolers include temperature‐sensitive electronic/optoelectronic devices such as photovoltaics, thermophotovoltaics, rectennas, infrared detectors, and power electronics not limited to buildings and power plants.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Colored, Daytime Radiative Coolers with Thin‐Film Resonators for Aesthetic Purposes

Lee

Kim

et al. 2018

Advanced Optical Materials

125

111

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sunlight. The features of an accurate radiative model, strong selective emission in the atmospheric transparency window, and broadband high reflectance to solar irradiation are each formulated individually and then configured collectively to accomplish this outcome. Because all of the successful examples of daytime radiative coolers possess high solar reflectivity, they are white or silver in color and are thus not visually appealing, [5][6][7]9] thereby restricting the possible installation locations and limiting their net cooling capacity. Although previous efforts have been paid to incorporate colors into the radiative cooler, [26] the research only dealt with theoretical calculations without experimental demonstrations, and structural optimization of colored radiative coolers has not been performed. Here, we present concepts and strategies for daytime radiative cooling systems that involve comparable attention to engineering design but with the goal of achieving systems that offer aesthetically desired colors and patterns and functional purposes, thus enabling more widespread installation. The experimental demonstration exhibits subambient cooling behaviors under a clear sky while preserving its color. The approaches reported here can address application concepts for wearable electronic devices whose operational temperature is lowered by radiative cooling. Figure 1a exhibits a schematic of a decorative colored passive radiative cooler (CPRC) for aesthetic purposes featuring areas with subtractive primary colors (i.e., cyan, magenta, and yellow) on a silvery background, where the latter area represents a conventional daytime radiative cooler. The CPRC consists of a SE comprising a bilayer of SiO 2 (650 nm) and Si 3 N 4 (910 nm), whose thicknesses are defined by extensive numerical optimization; and a metal reflector comprising an Ag film (100 nm) deposited on a silicon substrate (Figure 1b, left). Additional photonic nanostructures were inserted below the SE to generate vivid colors at specific desired areas (Figure 1b, right), which comprised a thin-film resonator composed of a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) structure. The MIM structure determined each color via interference in the 1D stacked layers, where the color generation was precisely controlled by tuning the thickness of the insulator layer (i.e., SiO 2 cavity) in the MIM.In this study, the MIM structure was chosen as the colorant structure because it provided minimal loss of solar reflectance and a narrow spectral width compared with other additive color filters such as metal gratings and 1D photonic crystals (1D PhC),Recently developed approaches in passive radiative cooling enable daytime cooling via engineered photonic structure layouts. However, the use of these daytime radiative coolers is restricted owing to their nonaesthetic appearance resulted from strong solar reflection. Therefore, this article introduces a colored passive radiative cooler (CPRC) capable of generating potential cooling power, based on a thin-film optical resonator embedded in ...

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Colored, Daytime Radiative Coolers with Thin‐Film Resonators for Aesthetic Purposes

Lee

Kim

et al. 2018

Advanced Optical Materials

125

111

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“…3. Several studies 10,11,12,13,14 utilizing photonic radiative coolers for solar cells have emerged over recent years. In our study we pick two of them to highlight and distinguish the cooling gain that arises in one case mostly by the photon management at the optical regime (Wei Li et al 13 in 2017) and in the other case at the mid-IR (Linxiao Zhu et al 10 in 2015).…”

Section: Towards Realistic Implementationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…4b). Later, Wei Li et al 13 proposed a 1D photonic crystal consisting of 45 alternate Al2O3, SiN, SiO2, TiO2 thin-film layers that could be implemented as a retrofit to current photovoltaic modules (see top structure of Fig. 4a).…”

Section: Towards Realistic Implementationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Passive radiative cooling and other photonic approaches for the temperature control of photovoltaics: a comparative study for crystalline silicon-based architectures

Perrakis¹,

Tasolamprou²,

Kenanakis³

et al. 2020

Opt. Express

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The radiative cooling of objects during daytime under direct sunlight has recently been shown to be significantly enhanced by utilizing nanophotonic coatings. Multilayer thin film stacks, 2D photonic crystals, etc. as coating structures improved the thermal emission rate of a device in the infrared atmospheric transparency window reducing considerably devices' temperature. Due to the increased heating in photovoltaic (PV) devices, that has significant adverse consequences on both their efficiency and life-time, and inspired by the recent advances in daytime radiative cooling, we developed a coupled thermal-electrical modeling to examine the physical mechanisms on how a radiative cooler affects the overall efficiency of commercial photovoltaic modules. Employing this modeling, which takes into account all the major processes affected by the temperature variation in a PV device, we evaluated the relative impact of the main radiative cooling approaches proposed so far on the PV efficiency, and we established required conditions for optimized radiative cooling. Moreover, we identified the validity regimes of the currently existing PV-cooling models which treat the PV coolers as simple thermal emitters. Finally, we assessed some realistic photonic coolers from the literature, compatible with photovoltaics, to implement the radiative cooling requirements, and demonstrated their associated impact on the temperature reduction and PV efficiency. Providing the physical mechanisms and requirements for cooling radiatively solar cells, our study provides guidelines for utilizing suitable photonic structures as radiative coolers, enhancing the efficiency and the lifetime of PV devices.

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“…Later, several novel materials have been studied and implemented in radiative cooling, such as nanoparticle‐embedded double layer [ 14 ] and phase‐change material, [ 15 ] as well as new design methods like memetic algorithm. [ 16 ] Subsequently, radiative cooling has been applied on solar cells, [ 17–20 ] continuous thermal sources, [ 21 ] spacecrafts, [ 22,23 ] and water [ 24 ] with different requirements and mechanisms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Broadband Radiative Cooling and Decoration for Passively Dissipated Portable Electronic Devices by Aperiodic Photonic Multilayers

Chen

2020

Annalen der Physik

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Broadband radiative cooling and decoration for passively dissipated portable electronic devices by an aperiodic photonic multilayer structure is proposed theoretically. The designed optical structure can strongly emit in the infrared region from 6.9 to 40 µm within the blackbody radiation spectrum of electronic devices. Its emission spectrum exhibits good uniformity across different incident angles, enhancing the cooling performance. At an ambient temperature of 20 • C, the designed broadband radiative cooler can produce a net cooling power of 46.88 W m −2 , 65.95% higher than pure silica of the same thickness. At a typical junction temperature of 90 • C allowed by the microprocessor die, the net cooling power reaches 239.55 W m −2 , still with an 18.21% improvement over pure silica glass. In the visible regime, the designed structure displays a low uniformity in the reflection spectrum, producing an elegant color shift from the translucent gray color of normal direction to the silver and highly reflective look at a grazing angle. These results can be useful in future exterior and thermal designs of portable electronic devices.

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A Comprehensive Photonic Approach for Solar Cell Cooling

Cited by 287 publications

References 51 publications

Colored, Daytime Radiative Coolers with Thin‐Film Resonators for Aesthetic Purposes

Colored, Daytime Radiative Coolers with Thin‐Film Resonators for Aesthetic Purposes

Passive radiative cooling and other photonic approaches for the temperature control of photovoltaics: a comparative study for crystalline silicon-based architectures

Broadband Radiative Cooling and Decoration for Passively Dissipated Portable Electronic Devices by Aperiodic Photonic Multilayers

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