Total Internal Reflection for Effectively Transparent Solar Cell Contacts
- Creators
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Jahelka, Phillip
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Saive, Rebecca
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Atwater, Harry
Abstract
A new strategy for eliminating photocurrent losses due to the metal contacts on the front of a solar cell was proposed, simulated, and tested. By placing triangular cross-section lines of low refractive index on top of the contacts, total-internal reflection at the interface of the low-index triangles and the surrounding material can direct light away from the metal and into the photoactive absorber. Simulations indicated that losses can be eliminated for any incident angle, and that yearly energy production improvements commensurate with the metallized area are possible. Proof of principle experiments were carried out to eliminate the reflective losses of a commercial solar cell's busbar contact. Spatially resolved laser beam induced current measurements demonstrated that reflection losses due to the busbar were reduced by voids with triangular cross-section.
Additional Information
The authors would like to thank John Lloyd for helpful discussions while setting up the LightTools simulations. This material is based upon work primarily supported by the Engineering Research Center Program of the National Science Foundation and the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy of the Department of Energy under NSF Cooperative Agreement No. EEC-1041895. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the National Science Foundation or Department of Energy.Attached Files
Submitted - 1610.01047v1.pdf
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 71988
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20161114-104936050
- NSF
- EEC-1041895
- Created
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2016-11-15Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2023-06-02Created from EPrint's last_modified field