Self-assembled nanotextures impart broadband transparency to glass windows and solar cell encapsulants
Abstract
Most optoelectronic components and consumer display devices require glass or plastic covers for protection against the environment. Optical reflections from these encapsulation layers can degrade the device performance or lessen the user experience. In this paper, we use a highly scalable self-assembly based approach to texture glass surfaces at the nanoscale, reducing reflections by such an extent so as to make the glass essentially invisible. Our nanotextures provide broadband antireflection spanning visible and infrared wavelengths (450–2500 nm) that is effective even at large angles of incidence. This technology can be used to improve the performance of photovoltaic devices by eliminating reflection losses, which can be as much as 8% for glass encapsulated cells. In contrast, solar cells encapsulated with nanotextured glass generate the same photocurrent as when operated without a cover. Finally, ultra-transparent windows having surface nanotextures on both sides can withstand three times more optical fluence than commercial broadband antireflection coatings, making them useful for pulsed laser applications.
- Authors:
-
[1];
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Center for Functional Nanomaterials; Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA (United States). Wellman Center for Photomedicine. Massachusetts General Hospital
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Center for Functional Nanomaterials; Indian Inst. of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune (India). Dept. of Physics
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Center for Functional Nanomaterials
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1433972
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1405545
- Report Number(s):
- BNL-203507-2018-JAAM
Journal ID: ISSN 0003-6951; TRN: US1802813
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC0012704
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Applied Physics Letters
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 111; Journal Issue: 18; Journal ID: ISSN 0003-6951
- Publisher:
- American Institute of Physics (AIP)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 14 SOLAR ENERGY; geometrical optics; optical coatings; laser applications; polymers; photoconductivity; solar cells; drug delivery; solar energy; self assembly
Citation Formats
Liapis, Andreas C., Rahman, Atikur, and Black, Charles T.. Self-assembled nanotextures impart broadband transparency to glass windows and solar cell encapsulants. United States: N. p., 2017.
Web. doi:10.1063/1.5000965.
Liapis, Andreas C., Rahman, Atikur, & Black, Charles T.. Self-assembled nanotextures impart broadband transparency to glass windows and solar cell encapsulants. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5000965
Liapis, Andreas C., Rahman, Atikur, and Black, Charles T.. Mon .
"Self-assembled nanotextures impart broadband transparency to glass windows and solar cell encapsulants". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5000965. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1433972.
@article{osti_1433972,
title = {Self-assembled nanotextures impart broadband transparency to glass windows and solar cell encapsulants},
author = {Liapis, Andreas C. and Rahman, Atikur and Black, Charles T.},
abstractNote = {Most optoelectronic components and consumer display devices require glass or plastic covers for protection against the environment. Optical reflections from these encapsulation layers can degrade the device performance or lessen the user experience. In this paper, we use a highly scalable self-assembly based approach to texture glass surfaces at the nanoscale, reducing reflections by such an extent so as to make the glass essentially invisible. Our nanotextures provide broadband antireflection spanning visible and infrared wavelengths (450–2500 nm) that is effective even at large angles of incidence. This technology can be used to improve the performance of photovoltaic devices by eliminating reflection losses, which can be as much as 8% for glass encapsulated cells. In contrast, solar cells encapsulated with nanotextured glass generate the same photocurrent as when operated without a cover. Finally, ultra-transparent windows having surface nanotextures on both sides can withstand three times more optical fluence than commercial broadband antireflection coatings, making them useful for pulsed laser applications.},
doi = {10.1063/1.5000965},
journal = {Applied Physics Letters},
number = 18,
volume = 111,
place = {United States},
year = {2017},
month = {10}
}
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