| Work Detail |
A team of Turkish researchers has tested a hemispherical shell-shaped organic active layer for photovoltaic applications. The group found that the shape maximizes light absorption and angular coverage compared to flat-structure cells, suggesting the structure would be beneficial for applications requiring flexible light capture, such as wearable electronics. Researchers from Abdullah Gül University in Turkey have developed a hemispherical shell shape for organic photovoltaic (OPV) cell structure. They carried out a three-dimensional finite element analysis to evaluate how light interacts with the structures and materials of the hemispherical cell and found that the proposed cell design can unlock the potential in light absorption and angular coverage. The research group explained that these improvements can be attributed to better coupling and guidance of light through the active layer, made possible by the devices hemispherical clamshell shape. He added that the expanded angular coverage would be especially advantageous for applications that require flexible light capture, such as wearable electronics. “Through improved absorption and omnidirectionality characteristics, the proposed hemispherical shell-shaped active layers will be beneficial in various application areas of organic solar cells, such as biomedical devices, power generation windows and greenhouses, the Internet of Things, etc.,” says Dooyoung Hah, lead author of the research. The analysis showed that, when subjected to transversely polarized (TE) light, the hemispherical structure provided 66% more light absorption than flat-structure devices. In the case of transversely magnetically polarized light, an improvement of 36% was observed. Compared to the semi-cylindrical shell designs, the hemispherical shell structure recorded a 13% increase in light absorption for the TE polarization and a 21% improvement for the TM polarization. The hemispherical structure also offered expanded angular coverage, spanning up to 81 degrees for TE polarization and 82 degrees for TM polarization. The scientists presented their findings and cell design in the paper “ Hemispherical-shell-shaped organic photovoltaic cells for absorption enhancement and improved angular coverage .” recently published in the SPIE Journal of Photonics for Energy (JPE) . Organic photovoltaic cells are an alternative to silicon cells. Although they have been praised for their flexibility and cost-effectiveness, they currently remain less efficient than conventional crystalline silicon cells. In January, researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology declared that their new organic photovoltaic cells, suitable for wearable electronics, have a conversion efficiency of 19%. That same month, French organic photovoltaics specialists Dracula Technologies unveiled the use of their organic cells in a new flexible storage device. |
