Researchers at the University of Arizona have developed low-cost silicone-based optical light guides configured to concentrate sunlight onto photovoltaic cells with above 90% optical efficiency. The fabrication is inexpensive, affords flexibility, and ease of assembly. Integration of multiple light guides enjoys relaxed alignment tolerances compared to glass.
Background: In solar applications, waveguides and/or lightguides are often used to redirect and spatially concentrate the sunlight onto photovoltaic cell (PV-cells). Glass lightguides can be utilized, but can be expensive and complex to fabricate, expecially when small geometrical features are required. Assembly of a plurality of glass-based lightguides into a full system is also tedious and complicated. Polymeric materials can address some of these issues, are well known to have a relatively high level of absorbance in the UV and NIR regions of the solar spectrum, when high transmittance is needed.
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