Light scattering from black silicon surfaces and its benefits for encapsulated solar cells
Light scattering from black silicon surfaces and its benefits for encapsulated solar cells
Black silicon (b-Si) has been widely investigated as a potential replacement for more traditional antireflective schemes for silicon solar cells, such as random pyramids, due to its reduced broadband reflectance and improved light-trapping properties. Wavelength and angle resolved scattering (WARS) reflectance measurements provide the means of analysing the amount of light scattered from a textured surface, which can be of interest when considering the amount of light trapped through total internal reflectance (TIR) at various interfaces in an encapsulated photovoltaic module. Here we present and analyse results from WARS measurements on b-Si surfaces fabricated using metal assisted chemical etching (MACE). Large angle scattering is observed for the entire spectrum, increasingly so for shorter incident wavelengths and increasing height of texture features. This is predicted to result in 35-40% of the reflected light being trapped by TIR at the glass-air interface and redirected back onto the sample, when the sample is encapsulated in standard PV module materials. This leads to a calculated additional boost of up to 0.45% in the photogenerated current of an encapsulated black silicon solar cell. This exceeds the calculated 0.21% boost due to TIR predicted for an encapsulated solar cell employing the industry-standard random pyramid texture with a thin film antireflective coating.
Antireflection, Black silicon, Light trapping, Optics, Scattering, Texture
Scheul, Tudor
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Khorani, Edris
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Rahman, Tasmiat
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Charlton, Martin
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Boden, Stuart
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January 2022
Scheul, Tudor
9c4d130a-a09f-4847-bf81-28ec61297a62
Khorani, Edris
70c18542-f30f-4297-80fe-3bf7f324a9f5
Rahman, Tasmiat
e7432efa-2683-484d-9ec6-2f9c568d30cd
Charlton, Martin
fcf86ab0-8f34-411a-b576-4f684e51e274
Boden, Stuart
83976b65-e90f-42d1-9a01-fe9cfc571bf8
Scheul, Tudor, Khorani, Edris, Rahman, Tasmiat, Charlton, Martin and Boden, Stuart
(2022)
Light scattering from black silicon surfaces and its benefits for encapsulated solar cells.
Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, 235, [111448].
(doi:10.1016/j.solmat.2021.111448).
Abstract
Black silicon (b-Si) has been widely investigated as a potential replacement for more traditional antireflective schemes for silicon solar cells, such as random pyramids, due to its reduced broadband reflectance and improved light-trapping properties. Wavelength and angle resolved scattering (WARS) reflectance measurements provide the means of analysing the amount of light scattered from a textured surface, which can be of interest when considering the amount of light trapped through total internal reflectance (TIR) at various interfaces in an encapsulated photovoltaic module. Here we present and analyse results from WARS measurements on b-Si surfaces fabricated using metal assisted chemical etching (MACE). Large angle scattering is observed for the entire spectrum, increasingly so for shorter incident wavelengths and increasing height of texture features. This is predicted to result in 35-40% of the reflected light being trapped by TIR at the glass-air interface and redirected back onto the sample, when the sample is encapsulated in standard PV module materials. This leads to a calculated additional boost of up to 0.45% in the photogenerated current of an encapsulated black silicon solar cell. This exceeds the calculated 0.21% boost due to TIR predicted for an encapsulated solar cell employing the industry-standard random pyramid texture with a thin film antireflective coating.
Text
SCHEUL - SolMAT - 2021 - full
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 14 October 2021
e-pub ahead of print date: 26 October 2021
Published date: January 2022
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
This work was supported by the EPSRC funded University of Southampton Doctoral Training Partnership ( EP/M508147/1 ); the Centre for Doctoral Training in New and Sustainable Photovoltaics ( EP/L01551X/1 ); and EPSRC grants EP/S000763/1 and EP/R005303/1 .
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier B.V.
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
Keywords:
Antireflection, Black silicon, Light trapping, Optics, Scattering, Texture
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 452120
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/452120
ISSN: 0927-0248
PURE UUID: 329f95cd-f287-4d2f-902d-fe25d04bdf60
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Date deposited: 25 Nov 2021 16:45
Last modified: 16 Jul 2024 01:46
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Contributors
Author:
Tudor Scheul
Author:
Edris Khorani
Author:
Tasmiat Rahman
Author:
Martin Charlton
Author:
Stuart Boden
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