Comparison of bioinspired hillock and pit textures for silicon solar cells

Francesco Chiadini; Vincenzo Fiumara; Antonio Scaglione; Akhlesh Lakhtakia

doi:10.1117/12.2041742

8 March 2014 Comparison of bioinspired hillock and pit textures for silicon solar cells

Francesco Chiadini, Vincenzo Fiumara, Antonio Scaglione, Akhlesh Lakhtakia

Proceedings Volume 9055, Bioinspiration, Biomimetics, and Bioreplication 2014; 90550T (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2041742
Event: SPIE Smart Structures and Materials + Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring, 2014, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Inspired by the apposition compound eyes of some dipterans, we analyzed the effect of texturing the exposed face of a silicon solar cell by ray-tracing simulation. Bioinspired textures of two types were considered: hillock textures and pit textures. A multifrequency analysis-that took into account the broadband nature of solar radiation and its amplitude at the sea-level, as well as the wavelength dependence of the complex-valued refractive index of silicon-showed that both types of bioinspired textures are beneficial. We found that the light-coupling efficiency can be enhanced by as much as 20% and 24% with respect to that of a flat surface when the exposed face of a silicon solar cell is decorated with the bioinspired hillock texture and the bioinspired pit texture, respectively.

Citation Download Citation

Francesco Chiadini, Vincenzo Fiumara, Antonio Scaglione, and Akhlesh Lakhtakia "Comparison of bioinspired hillock and pit textures for silicon solar cells", Proc. SPIE 9055, Bioinspiration, Biomimetics, and Bioreplication 2014, 90550T (8 March 2014); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2041742

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