Three-dimensional metamaterial device with photovoltaic bristles

摘要

The systems, methods, and devices of the various embodiments provide a photovoltaic cell made up of an array of photovoltaic bristles. The photovoltaic bristles may be configured individually and in an array to have a high probability of photon absorption. The high probability of photon absorption may result in high light energy conversion efficiency.

主权项

1. A photovoltaic cell, comprising:
an array of photovoltaic bristles located over a substrate, wherein each photovoltaic bristle comprises:
a core having a core radius (rc) in the range of about 0.5 microns to 50 microns;a portion of a contiguous absorption layer comprising photovoltaic semiconductor material positioned over the core and having a first radial thickness (dabs) in the range of 0.2 microns to 1.0 microns; anda portion of a contiguous outer conductive layer positioned over the absorption layer, having a second radial thickness (docl) in the range of 0.2 microns to 1.0 microns, and an index of refraction (nocl), wherein a combination of the substrate and the cores of the photovoltaic bristles is made of a base material portion and a metal layer that covers the base material portion, each core including a protruding portion of the metal layer, wherein the contiguous absorption layer is located over each of the cores of the photovoltaic bristles, wherein a bottommost layer within the contiguous absorption layer includes a horizontal portion located between the cores and overlies a portion of the metal layer that extends between the cores, wherein each bristle is configured such that:nocl*rcnamb*(rc+dabs+docl)≤1 wherein namb is the index of refraction of an ambient material surrounding the bristles, wherein the photovoltaic bristles within the array of photovoltaic bristles are arranged such that an edge to edge spacing between neighboring photovoltaic bristles (PEtOE) satisfies the equation:
((1.67*dabs) +rc)*(2)*(0.9)