Combining radiative cooling and light trapping strategies for improved performance of PERC bifacial silicon solar cells

Abstract

This work investigates the impact of combining light trapping and radiative cooling on bifacial solar panels. While several techniques have been proposed to enhance the efficiency of solar panels, their combination can lead to suboptimal results. By numerically evaluating the light absorption and thermal balance of different panel configurations, we found that each side of the bifacial solar cell can be textured independently with a cross-effect of less than 4%. However, our results also indicate that improving visible light trapping can increase infrared absorption, leading to a heating effect that may offset the benefits of radiative cooling. These findings highlight the importance of balancing the factors that influence solar panel efficiency and provide quantitative insights that guide the development of more effective solar energy systems.

Keywords

• Texturing
• Radiative cooling
• Light trapping
• Bifacial solar cell
• PERC
• Antireflective