Buffer layer between a planar optical concentrator and a solar cell
Date
2015-09-15
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
American Institute of Physics
Abstract
The effect of inserting a buffer layer between a periodically multilayered isotropic
dielectric (PMLID) material acting as a planar optical concentrator and a photovoltaic
solar cell was theoretically investigated. The substitution of the photovoltaic material
by a cheaper dielectric material in a large area of the structure could reduce the fabrication
costs without significantly reducing the efficiency of the solar cell. Both crystalline
silicon (c-Si) and gallium arsenide (GaAs) were considered as the photovoltaic material.
We found that the buffer layer can act as an antireflection coating at the interface
of the PMLID and the photovoltaic materials, and the structure increases the spectrally
averaged electron-hole pair density by 36% for c-Si and 38% for GaAs compared to the
structure without buffer layer. Numerical evidence indicates that the optimal structure
is robust with respect to small changes in the grating profile.
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Citation
Solano ME, Barber GD, Lakhtakia A, Faryad M, Monk PB, Mallouk TE. Buffer layer between a planar optical concentrator and a solar cell. AIP Advances. 2015;5(9):097150.