The External Light Trapping Using Down-Conversion Polymer and Diffuse Trench Reflectors

Abstract

External light trapping has been proposed as an alternative to internal light trapping. The advantage is that the electrical and optical characteristics can be designed separately. This enhances the degree of improvement that nano-photonics can contribute to the solar cell efficiency and J(SC). In this work, we use diffuse trench reflectors with down-conversion polymer to demonstrate the concepts of a low-cost, widely applicable scheme for the external light trap. A >50% enhancement of the J(SC) can be observed with proper designs and configurations. The proposed external light trap can be applied to nearly all thin-film solar cell technologies since the external optical components do not affect the electrical diode characteristic of the solar cells. The efficient external light trap is attributed to the high reflectance of the disuse mirror and its wide-angle diffractions, optical confinement due to the trench reflector, and the additional short-wavelength spectral enhancement by the down-conversion mechanism.