Analysis of prismatic bioinspired texturing of the surface of a silicon solar cell for enhanced light-coupling efficiency

Francesco Chiadini; Vincenzo Fiumara; Antonio Scaglione; Akhlesh Lakhtakia

doi:10.1117/1.JPE.3.034599

23 January 2013 Analysis of prismatic bioinspired texturing of the surface of a silicon solar cell for enhanced light-coupling efficiency

Francesco Chiadini, Vincenzo Fiumara, Antonio Scaglione, Akhlesh Lakhtakia

Author Affiliations +

Journal of Photonics for Energy, Vol. 3, Issue 1, 034599 (January 2013). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JPE.3.034599

Abstract

Investigating the use of prismatic lenses with cross-sectional shapes inspired by the apposition compound eyes of some dipterans, we found through numerical simulations that the exposed surfaces of silicon solar cells should be textured as arrays of bioinspired compound lenses in order to improve performance. We +used a ray-tracing algorithm to evaluate the light-coupling efficiency over a large and relevant portion of the solar spectrum and determined the array configuration that maximizes the coupling of light. Our simulation results show that the light-coupling efficiency can be significantly enhanced with respect to that of a silicon cell with a flat surface.

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Francesco Chiadini, Vincenzo Fiumara, Antonio Scaglione, and Akhlesh Lakhtakia "Analysis of prismatic bioinspired texturing of the surface of a silicon solar cell for enhanced light-coupling efficiency," Journal of Photonics for Energy 3(1), 034599 (23 January 2013). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JPE.3.034599

Published: 23 January 2013

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