Light management in single and tandem solar cells is becoming increasingly important to optimize the optical
and electro-optical properties of solar cells. After a short introduction to state-of-the-art light management
approaches, different applications of photonic crystals for photon management in solar cells are reviewed
and discussed concerning their applicability. Results on direction- and energy-selective filters for ultra-light-trapping,
intermediate reflectors for optimal current matching in tandem cells, and photonic crystal coating
for fluorescence collectors will be presented and discussed.
A 3D photonic intermediate reflector for textured micromorph silicon tandem solar cells has been investigated.
In thin-film silicon tandem solar cells consisting of amorphous and microcrystalline silicon with two junctions
of a-Si/c-Si, efficiency enhancements can be achieved by increasing the current density in the a-Si top cell
providing an optimized current matching at high current densities. For an ideal photon-management between
top and bottom cell, a spectrally-selective intermediate reflective layer (IRL) is necessary. We present the
first fully-integrated 3D photonic thin-film IRL device incorporated on a planar substrate. Using a ZnO
inverted opal structure the external quantum efficiency of the top cell in the spectral region of interest could
be enhanced. As an outlook we present the design and the preparation of a 3D self organized photonic crystal
structure in a textured micromorph tandem solar cell.
One possibility to enhance the solar cell efficiency above the Shockley Queisser limit is trapping the sunlight inside the
absorber with angular selective filters like a 3d photonic structure to increase the optical path length of the radiation. In
this study we analyze a 3d opal structure for light trapping in crystalline silicon solar cells. Therefore, we performed
reflection and transmission measurements on the opal and luminescence measurements on a crystalline silicon wafer in
conjunction with an opal. Results from measurements were compared with numerical simulations to identify the effects
of the photonic stop gap which departs from ideal ones by limited number of layers (below 10 layers) and by lateral
departure from translational symmetry due to ordered opal regimes of limited sizes (around 100 μm2). For the discussion
of experimental observations we include as well the influence on luminescence yield of a hypothetic non-stop-gap over
layer with similar refractive index.
We investigated a three dimensional inverted opal having the potential to notably increase light-trapping
in solar cells. The 3D photonic crystal top layer is an angle- and direction-selective filter, which decreases
the acceptance cone of the solar cell. Numerical optimisation methods are used to verify the optical and
electrical properties for a large angluar and energy spectrum for a system consisting of an inverted opal on
top of a thin crystalline silicon solar cell. It is numerically shown that an inverted opal grown in the Τ - Xdirection
might fulfill the requirement for such a filter. An estimate for the theoretically achievable efficiency
for nonconcentrated light is presented that do show an enchanced efficiency near the electronic band edge of
the absorber. The fabrication of first opals grown in Τ - Xdirection is presented and discussed with respect
to the quality and large scale fabrication.
The progress of 3D photonic intermediate reflectors for micromorph silicon tandem cells towards a first prototype
cell is presented. Intermediate reflectors enhance the absorption of spectrally-selected light in the top cell
and decrease the current mismatch between both junctions. A numerical method to predict filter properties for
optimal current matching is presented. Our device is an inverted opal structure made of ZnO and fabricated
using self-organized nanoparticles and atomic layer deposition for conformal coating. In particular, the influence
of ZnO-doping and replicated cracks during drying of the opal is discussed with respect to conductivity
and optical properties. A first prototype is compared to a state-of-the-art reference cell.
The Yablonovitch limit for light trapping in solar cells with Lambertian surfaces can be increased using angle selective
absorbers thereby exploiting the limited incidence angle of solar radiation. We simulate the efficiency gain or loss caused
by an angular and energy selective filter on top of the absorber, compared to a Lambertian and a flat absorber.
Additionally, we introduce two possible implementations of such a filter, a Rugate stack and inverted opal layers.
We suggest three-dimensional photonic crystals as a direction selective filter for ultra-light trapping in solar
cells. 3D photonic crystals allow tailoring of the photonic stop gap in space and energy. We analyzed different
photonic crystal structures concerning their spectral and direction selective properties and defined two figures of
merit for our application: a quality factor and a transmission coefficient. By analyzing different experimentally
feasible 3D photonic crystals, we found that the inverted opal has the best properties. We verified the direction
selective properties of the inverted opal in the microwave spectral range and found a very good agreement
between experiment and simulation.
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