Two-dimensional High Efficiency Thin-film Silicon Solar Cells with a Lateral Light Trapping Architecture
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Introducing light trapping structures into thin-film solar cells has the potential to enhance their solar energy harvesting as well as the performance of the cells; however, current strategies have been focused mainly on harvesting photons without considering the light re-escaping from cells in two-dimensional scales. The lateral out-coupled solar energy loss from the marginal areas of cells has reduced the electrical yield indeed. We therefore herein propose a lateral light trapping structure (LLTS) as a means of improving the light-harvesting capacity and performance of cells, achieving a 13.07% initial efficiency and greatly improved current output of a-Si:H single-junction solar cell based on this architecture. Given the unique transparency characteristics of thin-film solar cells, this proposed architecture has great potential for integration into the windows of buildings, microelectronics and other applications requiring transparent components.
Chen Z, Qiao N, Yang Y, Ye H, Liu S, Wang W Sci Rep. 2015; 5:12794.
PMID: 26238270 PMC: 4536523. DOI: 10.1038/srep12794.