Chapter 10
3D-Printing for Solar Cells
Marcel Di Vece,
Lourens van Dijk, Ruud E.I. Schropp,
Marcel Di Vece
Interdisciplinary Centre for Nanostructured Materials and Interfaces (CIMaINa) and Physics Department “Aldo Pontremoli”, University of Milan, Milan, Italy
Search for more papers by this authorRuud E.I. Schropp
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of the Western Cape, Belville, South Africa
Search for more papers by this authorMarcel Di Vece,
Lourens van Dijk, Ruud E.I. Schropp,
Marcel Di Vece
Interdisciplinary Centre for Nanostructured Materials and Interfaces (CIMaINa) and Physics Department “Aldo Pontremoli”, University of Milan, Milan, Italy
Search for more papers by this authorRuud E.I. Schropp
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of the Western Cape, Belville, South Africa
Search for more papers by this authorBook Editor(s):Albert Tarancón,
Vincenzo Esposito,
Albert Tarancón
Catalonia Institute for Energy Research and ICREA, Barcelona, Spain
Search for more papers by this authorVincenzo Esposito
Department of Energy Conversion and Storage, Technical University of Denmark, Fysikvej, Lyngby, Denmark
Search for more papers by this authorSummary
This chapter discusses the current promising developments in 3D-printing for photovoltaic (PV) structures, from interconnects to novel perovskite layer deposition. It demonstrates the current research activity and shows possible future possibilities. The chapter describes how a light management system for solar cells using a light trap was investigated using 3D-printing. Internal light trapping schemes, like improve the absorption, but at the same time deteriorate the electrical properties of the solar cell by inducing additional bulk and surface recombination centers. An external light trap is of interest for all solar cell technologies, because the light trap is placed as an add-on on top of the cell and retroreflects the light that is reflected as well as the light that is radiatively emitted by the solar cell. The top of the external light trap is a compound parabolic concentrator (CPC). CPCs are generally applied for concentrated PVs and solar thermal applications.
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