Prismatic bioinspired compound lenses for solar cells

Francesco Chiadini; Vincenzo Fiumara; Antonio Scaglione; Akhlesh Lakhtakia

doi:10.1117/12.877646

23 March 2011 Prismatic bioinspired compound lenses for solar cells

Francesco Chiadini, Vincenzo Fiumara, Antonio Scaglione, Akhlesh Lakhtakia

Proceedings Volume 7975, Bioinspiration, Biomimetics, and Bioreplication; 79750H (2011) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.877646
Event: SPIE Smart Structures and Materials + Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring, 2011, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

A silicon prismatic lens, whose shape is inspired by the apposition compound eyes of some dipterans, was investigated to improve the light-harvesting capability of silicon solar cells. The bioinspired compound lens (BCL) has a fractal construction procedure in which the cross-section of the lens is a frustum of a infinitely long circular cylinder at the zeroth-stage, and is decorated with sections of smaller cylinders at higher stages of construction. We found that the light-coupling efficiency of the best performing first-stage BCL cannot be enhanced by higher-order stages and is significantly superior to other kinds of textured surfaces. By coating the lens with a double layer anti-reflection coating further enhancement of efficiency can be obtained. Our strategy can also be adopted for solar cells not made of silicon.

Citation Download Citation

Francesco Chiadini, Vincenzo Fiumara, Antonio Scaglione, and Akhlesh Lakhtakia "Prismatic bioinspired compound lenses for solar cells", Proc. SPIE 7975, Bioinspiration, Biomimetics, and Bioreplication, 79750H (23 March 2011); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.877646

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