SBIR Phase I: Advanced Manufacturing of Photonic Smart Coatings for Utility-Scale PV Applications

The broader impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to increase the adoption of solar power by reducing the life-cycle cost of solar energy. The proposed work is to use a novel approach to improving the efficiency of any solar module with an additive manufacturing process. The technology tunes sunlight to improve its absorption and maximize its conversion into electric power. The proposed SBIR Phase I project will advance the development of a high-precision additive manufacturing process to create uniform optical layers for solar cells. A layer of nano-optical coating is created on either a plate-glass or polycarbonate substrate. The proposed coating restricts the wavelength distribution of incident photons to match the bandgap of mono- and polycrystalline silicon solar cells. The coating enhances coherence by embedding a nano-particle layer creating localized surface plasmon resonance on the crystalline silicon solar cell surface. Photons are scattered back to the solar cell with a one-dimensional distributed Bragg reflector. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.