Versatile biomimetic haze films for efficiency enhancement of photovoltaic devices

A low-cost biomimetic haze film (BHF) is fabricated by one-step replica molding of the petal texture of yellow roses with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). The BHF possesses very high haze transmission (75%) and ultrahigh diffusion transmittance (97%), superior anti-reflection ability, remarkable enhancement of light absorption at small incidence angles, and superb resistance to strong acids. When attached on top of the glass side of photovoltaic cells, the BHF significantly elongates the photon pathway in the active layer and enhances the light harvesting of the solar devices. As a result, the power conversion efficiency of Si solar cells, organic solar cells (OSCs) and perovskite solar cells (PSCs) is respectively improved remarkably by 6.8%, 10% and 15%. In addition, >65% of the photocurrent is maintained even at an extremely small light incidence angle (10°), which equals more than 2.7 times the efficiency enhancement of the solar cell without the BHF.

[1]  M. Green,et al.  The emergence of perovskite solar cells , 2014, Nature Photonics.

[2]  Peng Wang,et al.  Design of high-efficiency organic dyes for titania solar cells based on the chromophoric core of cyclopentadithiophene-benzothiadiazole , 2013 .

[3]  Stephen R Forrest,et al.  Relationship between Crystalline Order and Exciton Diffusion Length in Molecular Organic Semiconductors , 2010, Advanced materials.

[4]  Fengxian Xie,et al.  Dual Plasmonic Nanostructures for High Performance Inverted Organic Solar Cells , 2012, Advanced materials.

[5]  Rene Lopez,et al.  Photonic Crystal Geometry for Organic Polymer:Fullerene Standard and Inverted Solar Cells , 2011 .

[6]  Willie J. Padilla,et al.  Broadband and ultrahigh optical haze thin films with self-aggregated alumina nanowire bundles for photovoltaic applications , 2015 .

[7]  Christoph J. Brabec,et al.  Performance improvement of organic solar cells with moth eye anti-reflection coating , 2008 .

[8]  H. Snaith.  Perovskites: The Emergence of a New Era for Low-Cost, High-Efficiency Solar Cells , 2013 .

[9]  Zhiqiang Fang,et al.  Novel nanostructured paper with ultrahigh transparency and ultrahigh haze for solar cells. , 2014, Nano letters.

[10]  Yao Sun,et al.  Enhancement of perovskite-based solar cells employing core-shell metal nanoparticles. , 2013, Nano letters.

[11]  E. Fred Schubert,et al.  Nanostructured multilayer graded-index antireflection coating for Si solar cells with broadband and omnidirectional characteristics , 2008 .

[12]  Chain‐Shu Hsu,et al.  Synthesis of conjugated polymers for organic solar cell applications. , 2009, Chemical reviews.

[13]  Jinsong Huang,et al.  Solvent Annealing of Perovskite‐Induced Crystal Growth for Photovoltaic‐Device Efficiency Enhancement , 2014, Advanced materials.

[14]  Yang Yang,et al.  Interface engineering of highly efficient perovskite solar cells , 2014, Science.

[15]  K. Loh,et al.  Interface Engineering of Layer‐by‐Layer Stacked Graphene Anodes for High‐Performance Organic Solar Cells , 2011, Advanced materials.

[16]  Peng Jiang,et al.  Biomimetic broadband antireflection gratings on solar-grade multicrystalline silicon wafers , 2011 .

[17]  Mihaela C. Stefan,et al.  Developments of furan and benzodifuran semiconductors for organic photovoltaics , 2015 .

[18]  Peter Peumans,et al.  An effective light trapping configuration for thin-film solar cells , 2007 .

[19]  M. Green,et al.  Optical properties of intrinsic silicon at 300 K , 1995 .

[20]  Kan Li,et al.  Embedded surface relief gratings by a simple method to improve absorption and electrical properties of polymer solar cells. , 2012, ACS applied materials & interfaces.

[21]  Richard H. Friend,et al.  Photon recycling in lead iodide perovskite solar cells , 2016, Science.

[22]  Jae Su Yu,et al.  CH3NH3PbI3 planar perovskite solar cells with antireflection and self-cleaning function layers , 2016 .

[23]  Rene Lopez,et al.  Biomimetic microlens array with antireflective “moth-eye” surface , 2011 .

[24]  Liyong Niu,et al.  Biomimicking Topographic Elastomeric Petals (E‐Petals) for Omnidirectional Stretchable and Printable Electronics , 2015, Advanced science.

[25]  Zhiqiang Fang,et al.  Silver nanowire transparent conducting paper-based electrode with high optical haze , 2014 .

[26]  Bernd Rech,et al.  A mixed-cation lead mixed-halide perovskite absorber for tandem solar cells , 2016, Science.

[27]  Yongfang Li,et al.  Single‐Junction Polymer Solar Cells Exceeding 10% Power Conversion Efficiency , 2015, Advanced materials.

[28]  Bernd Rech,et al.  The effect of front ZnO:Al surface texture and optical transparency on efficient light trapping in silicon thin-film solar cells , 2007 .

[29]  Ashraful Islam,et al.  Conversion efficiency of 10.8% by a dye-sensitized solar cell using a TiO2 electrode with high haze , 2006 .

[30]  Tian Li,et al.  Transparent and haze wood composites for highly efficient broadband light management in solar cells , 2016 .

[31]  Andreas Kornowski,et al.  Self-assembly of ZnO: from nanodots to nanorods. , 2002, Angewandte Chemie.

[32]  Rengmao Wu,et al.  Inverted indium-tin-oxide-free cone-shaped polymer solar cells for light trapping , 2012 .

[33]  Hyunhyub Ko,et al.  Boosting the Performance of Organic Optoelectronic Devices Using Multiple‐Patterned Plasmonic Nanostructures , 2016, Advanced materials.