Selectively transparent and conducting photonic crystal rear-contacts for thin-film silicon-based building integrated photovoltaics

O’Brien, Paul G.; Chutinan, Alongkarn; Mahtani, Pratish; Leong, Keith; Ozin, Geoffrey A.; Kherani, Nazir P.

doi:10.1364/oe.19.017040

Cited by 24 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Reharvesting infrared or ultraviolet photons that are lost in semi-transparent devices requires either additional changes in the cell architecture or the use of materials with an enhanced absorption in the near-ultraviolet and especially in the near-infrared. A Bragg reflector has been used to increase near-infrared photon harvesting, demonstrating that the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of OPV cells could be increased up to 1.7% for small-molecule cells 37 and up to 2.5% for polymer cells 38 , and could improve transparency in thin-film a-Si:H cells 39 . An alternative approach is to reharvest red light using cholesteric liquid crystals as wavelength-dependent reflectors 40 .…”

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confidence: 99%

Transparent polymer solar cells employing a layered light-trapping architecture

et al. 2013

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Organic solar cells have unique properties that make them very attractive as a renewable energy source. Of particular interest are semi-transparent cells, which have the potential to be integrated into building façades yet not completely block light. However, making organic cells transparent limits the metal electrode thickness to a few nanometres, drastically reducing its reflectivity and the device photon-harvesting capacity. Here, we propose and implement an ad hoc path for light-harvesting recovery to bring the photon-to-charge conversion up to almost 80% that of its opaque counterpart. We report semi-transparent PTB7:PC 71 BM cells that exhibit 30% visible light transmission and 5.6% power conversion efficiency. Non-periodic photonic crystals are used to trap near-infrared and near-ultraviolet photons. By modifying the layer structure it is possible to tune the device colour without significantly altering cell performance.

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confidence: 99%

Transparent polymer solar cells employing a layered light-trapping architecture

et al. 2013

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“…STCPCs have been used in OLEDs [7] and their potential use has been explored for amorphous silicon BIPV [8] and micromorph silicon cells [9]. The use of STCPCs as reflectors in thin c-Si photovoltaics appears promising due to the fact that the materials used in an STCPC have a high index contrast (n ITO = 2 and n SiO2-np = 1.3-1.4 @ λ = 633 nm), they do not require the fabrication of vias for electrical conductivity, and they can potentially act as the rear electrode.…”

Section: Selectively Transparent and Conducting Photonic Crystalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optical characterization of selectively transparent and conducting photonic crystals for use in thin crystalline silicon photovoltaics

Flood

Boyd

Chowdhury

et al. 2013

2013 IEEE 39th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC)

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The potential use of selectively transparent and conducting photonic crystals (STCPCs) made of ITO and silica nanoparticles as rear reflectors in 10 µm crystalline silicon (c-Si) photovoltaics (PV) have been explored. Optical simulations comparing the performance of STCPC-reflectors and aluminum reflectors have been performed. The STCPCs outperform aluminum reflectors deposited on the crystalline silicon surface, but exhibit significantly lower reflectivity than the case where a substantial silica film layer is included between the aluminum reflector and the c-Si absorber. However, solar cells using STCPCs as the rear-reflector are capable of generating a significant amount of photocurrent from rear illumination in bifacial PV. An STCPC has been fabricated on a 10 µm c-Si membrane and the reflection and transmission spectral measurements demonstrate the expected increase in absorption in the red-to-NIR range.

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“…Light with wavelengths within the photonic stop-gap that is incident from the normal direction will undergo complete reflection. In this regard, an advantage of one-dimensional photonic crystals over their two-and three-dimensional counterparts is their broad stop-band in the normal direction, which can be designed to intensely reflect incident radiation over a broad spectral range, which is advantageous for solar energy applications [23][24][25][26]. The objective of this work is to determine whether transparent heat mirrors can be made through structural design at the length scale of the photons these heat mirrors interact with, rather than tailoring their atomic composition through doping.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transparent Photonic Crystal Heat Mirrors for Solar Thermal Applications

2020

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Numerical calculations are performed to determine the potential of using one-dimensional transparent photonic crystal heat mirrors (TPCHMs) as transparent coatings for solar receivers. At relatively low operating temperatures of 500 K, the TPCHMs investigated herein do not provide a significant advantage over conventional transparent heat mirrors that are made using transparent conducting oxide films. However, the results show that TPCHMs can enhance the performance of transparent solar receiver covers at higher operating temperatures. At 1000 K, the amount of radiation reflected by a transparent cover back to the receiver can be increased from 40.4% to 60.0%, without compromising the transmittance of solar radiation through the cover, by using a TPCHM in the place of a conventional transparent mirror with a In2O3:Sn film. For a receiver operating temperature of 1500 K, the amount of radiation reflected back to the receiver can be increased from 25.7% for a cover that is coated with a In2O3:Sn film to 57.6% for a cover with a TPCHM. The TPCHM that is presented in this work might be useful for high-temperature applications where high-performance is required over a relatively small area, such as the cover for evacuated receivers or volumetric receivers in Sterling engines.

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Selectively transparent and conducting photonic crystal rear-contacts for thin-film silicon-based building integrated photovoltaics

Cited by 24 publications

References 20 publications

Transparent polymer solar cells employing a layered light-trapping architecture

Transparent polymer solar cells employing a layered light-trapping architecture

Optical characterization of selectively transparent and conducting photonic crystals for use in thin crystalline silicon photovoltaics

Transparent Photonic Crystal Heat Mirrors for Solar Thermal Applications

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