Angular confinement in solar cells: viable micro-optical designs

摘要

Enhancing solar cell conversion efficiency by angular confinement of radiative emission (photoluminescence) requires a combination of (1) high external luminescent efficiency, and (2) optics that can substantially and efficiently limit the angular range of cell luminescence. After covering the basic principles and recent proposals for suitable micro-optics, we investigate an assortment of alternative micro-optical designs that can improve device compactness considerably, which would reduce the amount of material required and would ease micro-fabrication, while offering liberal optical tolerance and high collection efficiency.