Precision design surfaces can enhance the performance of silicon solar cells

Converting solar light into electricity is a challenge for solar cells in solar power, but almost half of the light reaching the flat silicon solar cell surface is lost due to reflection. Traditional reflective coatings are useful, but only work within a narrow range of optical frequencies and angle of incidence. New research may have overcome this limitation.

As reported in Advanced Photonic Nexus, researchers have proposed a new type of reflective coating using a single ultra-thin layer of polycrystalline silicon nanostructures (aka Metastress). Achieving minimal reflection across specific wavelengths and angles, the metasurface is reportedly developed by combining forward and reverse design techniques enhanced by artificial intelligence (AI).

The result is a coating that sharply reduces sunlight reflection over a wide range of wavelengths and angles, setting new benchmarks for performance with minimal material complexity.

The coating works across the visible and near-infrared spectra (500-1200 nanometers) and is effective even when sunlight hits at a steep angle. This reflects 2% of the light entering directly at an angle and about 4.4% at an angle. This is an outcome that is not predicted in single-layer designs.

This breakthrough shows that intelligently designed nanostructured layers can increase the efficiency of mainstream solar panels. High performance and relatively simple, it can lead to more efficient solar panels and speed up the transition to clean energy.

Beyond solar energy, this approach advances how scientists design optical and photonic metasurfaces. Opens the door to multifunctional photonic coatings, which can benefit not only solar power, but also sensors and other optical devices.