Study of solar light redirecting films for enhancing the power conversion efficiency of solar cells

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Photovoltaic (PV) solar cells, which convert sunlight directly into electrical power, is the most sustainable andclean energy technology available up to date. Tremendous efforts and investment have been made to developmore efficient and affording PV solar cells to promote a wider use of solar cells. A typical solar cell iscomprised of front contact (busbars and fingers) to collect electrons, which occupy about 9-10% of the PVmodule. The busbars and fingers are made of metals such as silver, aluminum or copper, which are nottransparent and reflect a significant portion of sunlight, reducing the sun light harvesting and thus the efficiency(~2%) of a PV module.Canadian Solar, a world leader in the PV industry (the third largest in the world), been investing heavily on thedevelopment and adoption of new technologies that can improve their products. In this proposed project, Prof.Yuning and Canadian Solar will work together to develop a technology to minimize improve the PV moduleefficiency by utilizing a sunlight redirecting film on the front contacts. Two approaches will be explored. Thefirst one is based on the special microstructured surface of the polymer film, which will reflect ad redirect mostof the sunlight to the active area. The second approach will use a polymer film, which contain nanoparticlesthat will scatter the sunlight to the surface of the active cell area.The new solar PV panels developed through this collaboration will promote a wider use of solar PV in Canada,which will contribute to less fossil fuel consumption and reduced CO2 emission in Canada, and the bettermentof the lives of Canadians.