Abstract
Materials for nanoporous coatings that exploit optimized chemistries and self-assembly processes offer capabilities to reach ≈98% transmission efficiency and negligible scattering losses over the broad wavelength range of the solar spectrum from 350 nm to 1.5 μm, on both flat and curved glass substrates. These nanomaterial anti-reflection coatings also offer wide acceptance angles, up to ±40°, for both s- and p-polarization states of incident light. Carefully controlled bilayer films have allowed for the fabrication of dual-sided, gradient index profiles on plano-convex lens elements. In concentration photovoltaics platforms, the resultant enhancements in the photovoltaics efficiencies are ≈8%, as defined by experimental measurements on systems that use microscale triple-junction solar cells. These materials and their applications in technologies that require control over interface reflections have the potential for broad utility in imaging systems, photolithography, light-emitting diodes, and display technologies.
Y.Y. and K.-T.L. contributed equally to this work. This work was supported by the “Light-Material Interactions in Energy Conversion” Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences under Award Number DE-SC0001293. X.S. acknowledges the support from National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project 51602172). M.M.H. acknowledges the support from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Technology Transfer Office under Award No. GEN-01-4014. The authors thank B. Henderson (Sensofar), K. Walsh (UIUC), and J. C. Mabon (UIUC) for their assistance with materials characterization.