Ultra-thin Amorphous Silicon PV for Angle-Insensitive Colors
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional solar panels are aesthetically unappealing, heavy, and inefficient due to their thick semiconductor layers, limiting their integration into building designs and suffering from angle-dependent color shifts and performance degradation.
Innovation Solution
Development of dual-function photovoltaic devices with ultra-thin undoped amorphous silicon layers and organic charge transport layers, which generate electric current and produce filtered colors with minimal angle dependence, using a dielectric-metal-dielectric structure to achieve angle-insensitive and polarization-independent color generation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional inorganic thin-film PV cells use doped regions to form internal electric field, then charge extraction efficiency is improved, but photoactive layer thickness must be increased to at least 40-50 nm per doped layer, leading to overall thickness of several hundred nanometers
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and removes the doped regions from the photoactive layer, eliminating the need for thick doped layers while maintaining charge extraction through alternative mechanisms at the interfaces between the thin photoactive layer and charge transport layers
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs ultra-thin photoactive layers (few nanometers) instead of conventional thick layers, using thin-film technology to achieve both aesthetic flexibility and functional performance in a minimal thickness profile
2Use of energy by moving object
If thick semiconductor layers are used to absorb incident light, then light absorption efficiency is improved, but the panels become heavy and rigid with dull black appearance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses ultra-thin film structures (few nanometers) instead of thick semiconductor layers, dramatically reducing weight and enabling flexible, lightweight panels that maintain aesthetic appeal while preserving light absorption through optimized thin-film physics
3Power
If conventional PV panels are made with thick photoactive layers, then power generation capability is improved, but aesthetic appeal and integration into building designs are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms rigid thick panels into flexible ultra-thin films that can be seamlessly integrated into building surfaces, maintaining power generation through enhanced light-trapping mechanisms in thin-film geometry
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the optical and structural parameters of the photoactive layer, transitioning from thick conventional structures to ultra-thin films with optimized refractive indices and light-management properties to maintain performance while improving aesthetics
4Ease of manufacture
If color filters with nanostructures are used to generate colors, then color generation is achieved, but incident angle tolerance is compromised due to resonance shift
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the operating parameters of the optical resonance by adjusting the photoactive layer thickness to ultra-thin dimensions, which stabilizes the resonance condition across a wide range of incident angles, maintaining color consistency from normal to oblique viewing angles
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The devices produce high-purity colors with minimal angle shift and polarization independence, enabling efficient electric power generation and seamless integration into architectural designs, with power conversion efficiency exceeding 2% and maintaining performance up to 60° angles.
Implementation Method 1
dual-function photovoltaic devices capable of generating electric current and transmissive or reflective filtered colors
Implementation Method 2
configured to filter a portion of an electromagnetic spectrum in the photoactive layer to generate electric current and to generate a filtered output displaying minimal polarization dependence and minimal angle dependence
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure provides dual-function photovoltaic (PV) devices that generate electric current and have a colored surface or colored appearance. The PV devices may be angle insensitive and polarization independent. Such a dual-function PV device may have an ultra-thin photoactive layer (e.g., comprising an undoped amorphous silicon) with a thickness of ? about 50 nm. The PV device is configured to filter (transmit or reflect) a portion of an electromagnetic spectrum, providing a controllable and tunable color appearance. Such nanometer a-Si/organic hybrid cells are designed to transmit or reflect angle insensitive colors, electrically powering up to 2% to 3% or higher by efficient absorbed photon to charge conversion. In certain variations, the present disclosure further provides decorative power generating panels creating angle insensitive transmissive or reflective colors.