Enhancing light harvesting of organic solar cells by using hybrid microlenses

Abstract

Organic solar cells have drawn intense attentions in recent years due to their inherent advantages. But the relatively low power conversion efficiency is the main obstacle in the way of organic solar cell commercialization. One of the main reasons that limit the power conversion efficiency is the mismatch between electrical transmission properties and light absorption properties in an organic active layer. In this work, a highly efficient light trapping scheme with a hybrid microlens array is proposed to resolve this contradiction. This structure can achieve broadband absorption enhancement in the spectrum of interest by chromatic aberration correction and hole parameter adjustment. And the light trapping element can be separated from cells to avoid direct contact with an organic layer that may cause electrical defects. Moreover, it is also compatible with low cost manufacturing technologies.