Three‐Dimensional Photonic Crystal Intermediate Reflectors for Enhanced Light‐Trapping in Tandem Solar Cells

Abstract

A three‐dimensional photonic crystal intermediate reflector for enhanced light trapping in tandem solar cells is presented. The intermediate reflector consists of a transparent and conductive ZnO:Al inverted opal sandwiched in between the top amorphous silicon and bottom microcrystalline silicon cell.

Current Concepts for Optical Path Enhancement in Solar Cells

“…This corresponds to an enhancement of η jSC = 24.5 % which is in very good agreement with previously published numerical calculations [56]. Further simulations reveal that the maximum of the absorption of the inverted opal is around 650 nm (not shown), which is in excellent agreement with the red shift in the absorption edge of the a-Si:H top cell (see Figure 1.9) [63].…”

“…Nevertheless, it was shown by Fahr et al that the given trend is still valid for textured substrates [62]. A 3D-IRL on a textured substrate fully integrated into a micromorph tandem cell has been successfully realized by Üpping et al [63]. Figure.…”

Rear Side Diffractive Gratings for Silicon Wafer Solar Cells

“…Conductive inverted opals from silicon, ZnO, and Al-doped ZnO were fabricated by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and atomic layer deposition (ALD) using silica or polymer opals as templates [70,88,89]. Thus, photonic structures could be integrated directly in silicon solar cells [90,91]. The combination of self-assembling monodisperse colloids and replication of the resulting opals with vapor deposition methods enables the fabrication of reflection layers with relative ease especially on large substrates.…”

Quasiguided modes of opaline photonic crystals covered by Ge2Sb2Te5

“…Opals having photonic stop-bands in the visible range demonstrate shimmered interference colors. This fact not only provokes interest in opals from the viewpoint of jewellery but makes them promising for colorimetric sensors 1,2 , solar cells [3][4][5] and microdisplays [6][7][8] .…”