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Investigation of optimal cell-bonded optic for >1400× ultra-high experimental concentration factor for concentrator photovoltaics

Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: To push toward the limit of potential ultra-high concentrator photovoltaics, various cell-bonded optic materials are experimentally evaluated within a highly concentrating multi-stage optic. Different refractive indexes could unlock smaller focal images at the cost of higher absorption and reflective losses. Materials used include polyurethane elastomers (Crystal Clear 200, OptaClear), silicon elastomer (Sylgard-184) and a custom Sapphire, in different cell relative configurations. Indoor and outdoor experimental measurements are taken and a 2-stage configuration is compared to the 3-stage version with higher geometrical concentration ratio. This allows us to evaluate the validity of using indoor experimental data to predict real-world outdoor performance. The trends shown through indoor experiments were not consistently shown with outdoor experimentation, highlighting the need for real-world testing. An experimentally validated COMSOL model is used to improve the analysis of the outdoor experimental data.Using Sylgard-184 as the cell-bonded optic material, the highest effective concentration achieved was a of 1475.9 suns, with a corresponding geometric concentration of ~6,500 suns. Antireflective coatings were shown to improve performance slightly but had limited application due to the required hardness of the optic. To the knowledge of the authors, this is the highest experimental effective solar concentration factor reported thus far.
DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2025.124329
Language: English
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $4,460
OpenAlex ID: W4413883242
FWCI:
Cites: 35
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Related to: 10