Reflectance control for multicrystalline-silicon photovoltaic modules using textured-dielectric coatings

The authors describe a new approach for controlling the reflectance of photovoltaic modules with planar-surface solar cells. The new approach uses an optically thick, dielectric coating with a large refractive index and a textured surface; this dielectric coating is deposited on the planar-surface solar cell. The textured-dielectric coating works optically with the module encapsulation to promote optical confinement of rays inside the module encapsulation structure, which reduces the net reflectance of the photovoltaic module. The advantage of this approach is that deposition of a textured-dielectric film may be less costly and less intrusive on the cell manufacturing process than texturing multicrystalline-silicon substrates. The authors present detailed optical models and experimental confirmation of their new approach