Optical spectrum splitting systems that divide light between independent solar cells of different band gaps have received increasing attention in recent years as an alternative to expensive multijunction cells for high-efficiency PV. Most research, however, has focused on dichroic filters and other photonic structures that are expensive to manufacture. This has the effect of transferring the cost of the system from the PV cells to the optics. As a low-cost spectrum splitting approach we designed a prismatic lens that simultaneously splits and concentrates light and can be fabricated by injection molding. We present experimental results of a two-cell demonstration system, and calculations for low-cost configurations of commercial solar cells, enabled by the removal of lattice-matching requirements.

Date Published: 23 September 2016
PDF: 4 pages
Proc. SPIE 9937, Next Generation Technologies for Solar Energy Conversion VII, 993705 (23 September 2016); doi: 10.1117/12.2237711

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9937:
Next Generation Technologies for Solar Energy Conversion VII
Oleg V. Sulima; Gavin Conibeer, Editor(s)