Low-cost light manipulation coatings for polymer solar cell photocurrent increase under various incident angles

We fabricate self-assembled templates to produce textured polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) with quasi-random dimension distributions which are employed as light manipulation coatings in polymer solar cells (PSCs). When deposited at the PSC glass/air interface, PDMS films with microdome-like structures enhance the short-circuit current density (Jsc) by 7.9% through combined anti-reflective and scattering effects. The PSC power conversion efficiency can thus be improved from 6.75% to 7.28% and a maximum Jsc increase of 21% is observed for incident light tilted by 30 degrees. We compare structures with different diameter dispersities and confirm that quasi-randomness in textured coatings can increase their light scattering ability.

Unlike costly lithographic techniques, this self-assembled approach opens the path to low-cost fabrication of quasi-random microtextured coatings for PSCs to efficiently harvest sunlight throughout the day (at various incident angles).