Micro-scale textures for enhanced performance of organic solar cells

To enhance light harvesting in organic solar cells, micro-scale surface-textured plastic foils laminated to the front side of the cells present an efficient low-cost solution. In this work, numerical modelling based on a combined geometric-optics/wave-optics model is used to investigate the potential of different surface texture profiles of light-management foils and to determine the optimal texture parameters. Results indicate that properly optimized parabolic textures are most advantageous for this purpose and enable a more than 15% boost of the short-circuit current density in a broad range of illumination incident angles, with the peak of 22% at perpendicular incidence, compared to that of the nontextured solar cell.