Abstract
Anti-reflection coatings of zero index metamaterials (ZIMs) are proposed for maximum absorption of light in solar cells. A thin layer of a ZIM is shown to help trap light inside a solar cell. The outer surface of a ZIM layer is planar, and the inner surface has periodic corrugations in order for the incident light to pass through but block the re-transmission of the light back into free space. Using rigorous calculations for light absorption efficiency integrated over the AM1.5 solar spectrum, the basic design of the anti-reflection coating using a ZIM is studied by comparing the results with a common anti-reflection coating and a ZIM layer planar on both sides.
Highlights
The reflection of light from solar cells is one of the important factors in reducing the efficiency of the cell to convert sunlight to electric power
The plan of the paper is as follows: since a zero index metamaterials (ZIMs) has both permittivity and permeability near zero, we present the specialized formulation of the rigorous-coupled wave approach (RCWA) in Sec
We proposed and theoretically analyzed a new concept of antireflection coatings for solar cells
Summary
The reflection of light from solar cells is one of the important factors in reducing the efficiency of the cell to convert sunlight to electric power. Anti-reflection coatings using metamaterials and artificially designed surface relief gratings have been proposed among others.7,8 These techniques have been developed for both crystalline silicon and thin-film solar cells.. If we design a layer of a ZIM medium with a planar surface on the side of the incident solar light and corrugations on the side of active solar material, the light will couple into the solar cell but will not be able to exit. This must help increase the light absorption inside the solar cell. Vectors are represented by boldface, and unit vectors are represented by boldface with a hat on them
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