Increased Photovoltaic Power Output via Diffractive Spectrum Separation
In this Letter, we report the preliminary demonstration of a new paradigm for photovoltaic power generation that utilizes a broadband diffractive-optical element (BDOE) to efficiently separate sunlight into laterally spaced spectral bands. These bands are then absorbed by single-junction photovoltai...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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American Physical Society
2013
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/82521 |
| _version_ | 1826216749720141824 |
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| author | Kim, Ganghun Dominguez-Caballero, Jose Antonio Lee, Howard Friedman, Daniel J. Menon, Rajesh |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering Kim, Ganghun Dominguez-Caballero, Jose Antonio Lee, Howard Friedman, Daniel J. Menon, Rajesh |
| author_sort | Kim, Ganghun |
| collection | MIT |
| description | In this Letter, we report the preliminary demonstration of a new paradigm for photovoltaic power generation that utilizes a broadband diffractive-optical element (BDOE) to efficiently separate sunlight into laterally spaced spectral bands. These bands are then absorbed by single-junction photovoltaic cells, whose band gaps correspond to the incident spectral bands. We designed such BDOEs by utilizing a modified version of the direct-binary-search algorithm. Gray scale lithography was used to fabricate these multilevel optics. They were experimentally characterized with an overall optical efficiency of 70% over a wavelength range of 350–1100 nm, which was in excellent agreement with simulation predictions. Finally, two prototype devices were assembled: one with a pair of copper indium gallium selenide based photovoltaic devices, and another with GaAs and c-Si photovoltaic devices. These devices demonstrated an increase in output peak electrical power of ∼42% and ∼22%, respectively, under white-light illumination. Because of the optical versatility and manufacturability of the proposed BDOEs, the reported spectrum-splitting approach provides a new approach toward low-cost solar power. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:52:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/82521 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:52:49Z |
| publishDate | 2013 |
| publisher | American Physical Society |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/825212022-09-29T22:06:39Z Increased Photovoltaic Power Output via Diffractive Spectrum Separation Kim, Ganghun Dominguez-Caballero, Jose Antonio Lee, Howard Friedman, Daniel J. Menon, Rajesh Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering Dominguez-Caballero, Jose Antonio In this Letter, we report the preliminary demonstration of a new paradigm for photovoltaic power generation that utilizes a broadband diffractive-optical element (BDOE) to efficiently separate sunlight into laterally spaced spectral bands. These bands are then absorbed by single-junction photovoltaic cells, whose band gaps correspond to the incident spectral bands. We designed such BDOEs by utilizing a modified version of the direct-binary-search algorithm. Gray scale lithography was used to fabricate these multilevel optics. They were experimentally characterized with an overall optical efficiency of 70% over a wavelength range of 350–1100 nm, which was in excellent agreement with simulation predictions. Finally, two prototype devices were assembled: one with a pair of copper indium gallium selenide based photovoltaic devices, and another with GaAs and c-Si photovoltaic devices. These devices demonstrated an increase in output peak electrical power of ∼42% and ∼22%, respectively, under white-light illumination. Because of the optical versatility and manufacturability of the proposed BDOEs, the reported spectrum-splitting approach provides a new approach toward low-cost solar power. United States. Dept. of Energy (Contract No. DE-AC36-08GO28308) Utah Science Technology and Research (USTAR) Initiative University of Utah Research Foundation (Technology Commercialization Grant) 2013-11-20T21:51:08Z 2013-11-20T21:51:08Z 2013-03 2012-08 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0031-9007 1079-7114 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/82521 Kim, Ganghun, Jose A. Dominguez-Caballero, Howard Lee, Daniel J. Friedman, and Rajesh Menon. Increased Photovoltaic Power Output via Diffractive Spectrum Separation. Physical Review Letters 110, no. 12 (March 2013). en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.123901 Physical Review Letters Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf American Physical Society APS |
| spellingShingle | Kim, Ganghun Dominguez-Caballero, Jose Antonio Lee, Howard Friedman, Daniel J. Menon, Rajesh Increased Photovoltaic Power Output via Diffractive Spectrum Separation |
| title | Increased Photovoltaic Power Output via Diffractive Spectrum Separation |
| title_full | Increased Photovoltaic Power Output via Diffractive Spectrum Separation |
| title_fullStr | Increased Photovoltaic Power Output via Diffractive Spectrum Separation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Increased Photovoltaic Power Output via Diffractive Spectrum Separation |
| title_short | Increased Photovoltaic Power Output via Diffractive Spectrum Separation |
| title_sort | increased photovoltaic power output via diffractive spectrum separation |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/82521 |
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