Diffuse reflectors for improving light management in solar cells: a review and outlook

Pigment based diffuse reflectors (DRs) have several advantages over metal reflectors such as good stability, high reflectivity, and low parasitic absorption. As such, DRs have the potential to be applied on high efficiency silicon solar cells and further increase the power conversion efficiency. In...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of optics (2010) Vol. 19; no. 1; pp. 14001 - 14012
Main Authors Barugkin, Chog, Beck, Fiona J, Catchpole, Kylie R
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published IOP Publishing 01.01.2017
Subjects
absorption
diffuse reflector
light management
light scattering
photoluminescence
silicon
solar cells
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Summary:Pigment based diffuse reflectors (DRs) have several advantages over metal reflectors such as good stability, high reflectivity, and low parasitic absorption. As such, DRs have the potential to be applied on high efficiency silicon solar cells and further increase the power conversion efficiency. In this paper, we perform a thorough review on the notable achievements to date of DRs' application for photovoltaics. We outline unique attributes of these technologies and discuss the theoretical and laboratory development working towards overcoming the challenges of transferring to high efficiency silicon solar cells. In order to understand the potential of DRs for high efficiency silicon solar cells, we provide a qualitative analysis of the impact of front reflection, rear absorption and the angular distribution on the useful light absorption in silicon wafers. By including this discussion, we provide an outlook for the application of DR in reaching maximum photo-current for high efficiency silicon solar cells.
Bibliography:JOPT-102822.R3
ISSN:2040-8978
2040-8986
DOI:10.1088/2040-8978/19/1/014001