Explore the vast range of titles available.

The antireflection coating (ARC) suppresses surface light loss and thus improves the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of solar cells, which is its essential function. This paper reviews the latest applications of antireflection optical thin films in different types of solar cells and summarizes the experimental data. Basic optical theories of designing antireflection coatings, commonly used antireflection materials, and their classic combinations are introduced. Since single and double antireflection coatings no longer meet the research needs in terms of antireflection effect and bandwidth, the current research mainly concentrates on multiple layer antireflection coatings, for example, adjusting the porosity or material components to achieve a better refractive index matching and the reflection effect. However, blindly stacking the antireflection films is unfeasible, and the stress superposition would allow the film layer to fail quickly. The gradient refractive index (GRIN) structure almost eliminates the interface, which significantly improves the adhesion and permeability efficiency. The high-low-high-low refractive index (HLHL) structure achieves considerable antireflection efficiency with fewer materials while selecting materials with opposite stress properties improves the ease of stress management. However, more sophisticated techniques are needed to prepare these two structures. Furthermore, using fewer materials to achieve a better antireflection effect and reduce the impact of stress on the coatings is a research hotspot worthy of attention.

A series of TiO 2 -SiO 2 composite sols have been synthesized using titanium (IV) isopropoxide and tetraethyl orthosilicate as precursors under acidic conditions. The stability of the binary sols is improved by a prehydrolysis step of tetraethyl orthosilicate. Assisted by heat treatment, the refractive index of the TiO 2 -SiO 2 hybrid films obtained can be tuned in a wide range. On the basis of film optical constants derived from fitting of transmittance spectrum, two types of antireflection coatings with quarter-half and quarter-half-quarter multilayer structures are designed, and ordered mesoporous SiO 2 film and dense SiO 2 film are proposed to be used as the top layer, respectively. According to theoretical design requirements, the two antireflection coatings are successfully constructed by selecting the TiO 2 -SiO 2 films with appropriate refractive index as the other layers. The average transmittance of the triple-layer coating at 400–800 nm is 98.74%, and that of the double-layer coating even reaches 99%. Meanwhile, the two types of multilayer coatings show good mechanical properties, which benefit from the tough skeleton of each layer. X-ray reflectivity measurements were also performed on the multilayer structures and the obtained thickness of each layer is consistent with that in the theoretical design. The results show that precise control of film thickness and refractive index is achievable using sol-gel techniques. Owing to excellent control on sol composition, the practical sol-gel route has high potential for the production of antireflective coatings. The double-layer and triple-layer broadband antireflection coatings are successfully constructed based on the optimal combination of TiO 2 -SiO 2 hybrid films and SiO 2 films by dip coating. Highlights Stable TiO 2 -SiO 2 binary sols with wide range of Ti/Si ratio were obtained by a facile sol-gel process. TiO 2 -SiO 2 hybrid films can satisfy the design requirements of the λ/4-λ/2 double-layer and λ/4-λ/2-λ/4 triple-layer antireflection coatings. Both double-layer and triple-layer antireflection coatings present excellent performance over the entire visible region. The high transmittance and the good abrasion-resistance endow the two multilayer coatings with great potential for practical applications.

In the current context, there is a great desire to develop renewable energy sources as a power source. In order to improve the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of silicon solar cells, several studies are being undertaken in this area. This investigation focuses on preparing ZnO-Al 2 O 3 blend as an antireflective coating (ARC) for improving the efficiency of polycrystalline silicon power conversion. The sol—gel method was employed to synthesis ZnO-Al 2 O 3 blend which is produced by mixing zinc oxide with aluminium oxide. The spin coating process was used to deposit single to four layers of ZnO-Al 2 O 3 blend on a silicon solar substrate. The thickness of ZnO-Al 2 O 3 coating obtained was measured with the help of atomic force microscopy (i.e.40 nm).The effect of zinc oxide and aluminium oxide coating on electrical, structural and optical characteristics of coated polycrystalline silicon solar cells, as well as cell temperature is investigated. A layer deposition of a single to multiple layers on a silicon solar cell was identified by an increase in layer thickness. At a low cell temperature (40 °C), the triple layer(LIII)deposition attained a maximum absorbance of 92% and power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 18.8%, demonstrating that photons diffuse on the solar cells were increased. The results show that zinc oxide and aluminium oxide mixture is a good anti-reflection coating material in improving silicon solar cell power conversion efficiency.

This study focuses on the fabrication and characterization of a transparent conductive window with high transmission properties. The window is created by depositing optimized antireflection layers on quartz glass to emphasize the spectral range of 450–800 nm at an incidence angle of 35°. The deposition process involves an antireflection layer to minimize reflection and achieve a transmission level above 91% within the specified spectral range. The thin film demonstrates the excellent optical properties of the fabricated transparent conductive window, making it suitable for a wide range of applications requiring high transmission and resistance to laser-induced damage. This research provides insights into the fabrication and performance of transparent conductive windows, laying the groundwork for potential applications in optics and industrial settings.

The current research effort focused on enhancing the power conversion performance of silicon solar cells by minimizing the scattering of incident photons on the solar cell surface. This can be achieved through antireflective thin-film coatings. The main purpose of antireflective coatings is to minimize the reflection of incident light radiation. Silicon solar cells with antireflective thin-film coatings exhibit better light transmittance, and hence power conversion efficiency is improved. Metal chalcogenides are materials with a wider energy band gap and possess better electrical and optical properties. This study aims at using zinc selenide (ZnSe), a metal chalcogenide, as an antireflective coating material. ZnSe was synthesized through a room-temperature thermal evaporation technique. Further, coating of ZnSe on the silicon solar cell was done using an electrospraying technique. The optimal solar cell sample (D3) with thickness of 1.32 µm exhibited maximum transmittance of 95.8% in the visible spectrum. The electrical resistivity of the D3 sample under neodymium radiation was noted as 3.43 × 10−5 Ω m, which was lower than other coated samples. The output efficiency of the sample was found to be 19.95%, which was a 4.58% improvement over pristine solar cells. Based on the observations, it is evident that the synthesized ZnSe is a promising coating material for controlling reflection loss and increasing power conversion efficiency.

We synthesized BaTiO3–epoxy nanocomposites (particle size < 100 nm) with volume fractions up to 25 vol. %, whose high-frequency complex permittivity was characterized from 8.2 to 12.5 GHz. The maximum dielectric constant approaches 9.499 with an acceptable loss tangent of 0.113. The dielectric loss gradually saturates when the particle concentration is higher than 15 vol. %. This special feature is an important key to realizing high-k and low-loss nanocomposites. By comparing the theoretical predictions and the experimental data, four applicable effective-medium models are suggested. The retrieved dielectric constant (loss tangent) of 100-nm BaTiO3 nanopowder is in the range of 50–90 (0.1–0.15) at 8.2–12.5 GHz, exhibiting weak frequency dispersion. Two multilayer microwave devices—total reflection and antireflection coatings—are designed based on the fabricated nanocomposites. Both devices show good performance and allow broadband operation.

In this study, we aim to minimize light loss and achieve high power conversion efficiencies (PCE) in perovskite solar cells (PSCs) by employing a spectral conversion film component with antireflection properties. In our scheme, NaYF4:Tm, Yb, and Gd luminescent nanorod/silica nanosphere-based thin films are applied on CH3NH3PbI3 PSCs to improve the device efficiency. The film was fabricated by spin coating an aged silica sol containing NaYF4:Tm, Yb, and Gd luminescent nanorods. The size and the spectral conversion properties of the NaYF4:Tm, Yb, and Gd luminescent nanorods were controlled by tuning the Gd3+ ion concentration. The microstructure and the transmittance properties of the thin film were controlled by changing the concentration of NaYF4:Tm, Yb, and Gd luminescent nanorod in silica sol. The thin films have excellent spectral conversion properties while exhibiting a maximum transmittance. The photovoltaic performance of PSCs with NaYF4:Tm, Yb, and Gd luminescent nanorod/silica nanosphere-based thin films was systematically investigated. The light transmittance was optimized to 95.1% on a cleaned glass substrate, which resulted in an average increase of about 3.0% across the broadband range of 400–800 nm. The optimized films widen the spectrum of light absorbed by conventional PSC cells and reduce reflections across a broad range, enhancing the photovoltaic performance of PSCs. As a result, the PCE of the PSC increased from 14.51% for the reference device without a thin film to 15.67% for the PSC device with an optimized thin film. This study presents a comprehensive solution to the problem of Fresnel reflection and spectral response mismatch of the PSCs, which provides new ideas for the light management of PSCs.

The effects of single-layer antireflection coatings (SLARCs) on the performance of crystalline silicon (c-Si)-based solar cells have been analyzed numerically. In this study, amorphous (a-WO3) and crystalline (c-WO3) tungsten trioxide was introduced as a SLARC to investigate the performance of photovoltaic cells. Different antireflection coating (ARC) materials including aluminum trioxide (Al2O3), magnesium fluoride (MgF2), titanium dioxide (TiO2), magnesium oxide (MgO), silicon carbide (SiC), silicon dioxide (SiO2), aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO), strontium fluoride (SrF2), and titanium nitride (TiN) were used for simulative comparative analysis with WO3 in the search for the highest efficiency of c-Si solar cells. The PC1D simulator was employed to investigate the impact of these ARC materials on device performance. When compared to other ARC materials, the highest efficiency (η) of 19.35% was achieved for a-WO3 thin film with a thickness of 70.7 nm. The a-WO3 ARC layer yielded an open-circuit voltage (Voc) of 0.6363 V, short-circuit current density (Jsc) of 36.86 mA/cm2, and short-circuit current (Isc) of 3.686 A. The Jsc values obtained are in close agreement with the ARC layers' reflectance values. It is important to recognize that the main factors established in this simulation study about SLARC production will make experimental data cheaper and faster.

This paper reports a facile means to gradually tailor refractive index from an ultra-low- n of 1.10–1.45 based on hollow silica nanospheres hybridized with acid-catalyzed silica. The influences of the hybridization on refractive index, thin-film uniformity, and roughness were systematically investigated. The single-layered antireflection (AR) coatings and the three-layered AR coatings were prepared using the hybridized thin films as building blocks. The former showed the near-perfect transmittance and reflectance, 99.16 and 0.42 %, respectively, at a single wavelength of 600 nm, while the average transmittance ( T ave ) and reflectance ( R ave ) from the near ultraviolet (UV) to the visible region (300–800 nm) were moderate; the latter demonstrated an excellent AR capability in broadband that T ave reaches 97.29 %, much higher than that of the single-layered AR coating, 95.86 %. More interestingly, the three-layered AR coating showed an average transmittance of 97.94 % in the near-UV wavelength range from 345 to 400 nm and it was 6.77 % higher than that of bare glass. Moreover, the three-layered AR coatings had the less degradation in transmission and surface morphology after the highly-accelerated temperature and humidity stress tests, and the wet abrasion scrub tests. The findings imply that both good optical performance and durability are likely to be achieved using the sol–gel derived multilayered AR coatings.

Optically transparent zinc oxide and tantalum pentoxide thin surface films were deposited on front surface of polycrystalline silicon solar cell in the presence of room temperature for minimizing the incident light reflection. The deposition may be performed through vacuum or non-vacuum-based coating techniques. In this current research work, radio frequency sputter deposition technique was adopted for achieving uniform surface coatings such as zinc oxide (ZnO), tantalum pentoxide (Ta 2 O 5 ) and zinc oxide–tantalum pentoxide blends (ZnO–Ta 2 O 5 ). Antireflective surface coatings enhance light transmission and improve the power conversion efficiency of solar cells. The coated and uncoated solar cells were analysed to study the structural, optical, electrical, morphological and thermal characteristics. The existence of ZnO, Ta 2 O 5 and ZnO–Ta 2 O 5 blends were confirmed by matching the standard diffraction pattern with the obtained X-ray diffraction (XRD) data. The average crystallite size determined from obtained XRD analysis was 24.15 nm. ZnO (G1), Ta 2 O 5 (G2) and ZnO–Ta 2 O 5 blends (G3) were coated over solar cell under optimal sputter coating time of 45 min. ZnO–Ta 2 O 5 blend-coated solar cell (G3) exhibited maximum photocurrent and voltage generation of J sc = 36.9 mA cm −2 , V oc = 0.666 V (under direct sunlight) and J sc = 40.02 mA cm −2 and V oc = 0.671 V (under simulated light source). Through field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) analysis, cross-sectional thickness of various samples were identified as 0.55, 0.61 and 0.63 µm. From experimental results, the blend-coated solar cell (G3) was found to be promising antireflective coatings for multicrystalline Si solar cells. Neodymium light was significant in replicating consistent solar radiation, especially for promoting growth in green plants and domestic animals.