Transforming the cost of solar-to-electrical energy conversion: Integrating thin-film GaAs solar cells with non-tracking mini-concentrators

摘要

Thin-film GaAs solar cells integrated with wide-acceptance-angle compound parabolic concentrators could slash solar energy costs. Researchers at the University of Michigan in the USA have dramatically reduced the material and fabrication costs of GaAs solar cells by using an accelerated, non-destructive epitaxial lift-off fabrication process and by incorporating mini concentrators. They estimate that the material and fabrication costs of these solar cells are a mere 3% those of analogous substrate-based GaAs cells and 11% those of solar cells produce by conventional epitaxial lift-off methods. The wide acceptance angles of the concentrators means that the solar cell orientation only needs adjusting a few times per year, eliminating the need to use expensive active solar tracking. Furthermore, the solar cells can be operated at or near room temperature, and hence do not require active cooling.