Polymer Waveguide Encoded Lattices for Passive Radiative Cooling of Photovoltaics

Passive radiative daytime cooling (PDRC) has emerged as a promising strategy to assist in climate control in the built environment without requiring energy input or producing pollution. A potential application for PDRC is for thermal management of large area photovoltaic (PV) systems to both improve the lifetime and efficiency of cells. PDRC coatings can be engineered to reflect solar radiation in the sub-bandgap and UV windows (where the PV cell performs poorly) and to radiate heat through thermal emission in the long-wave IR transmission window (Figure 2). These coatings can be retrofitted to a PV panel to passively reduce the device temperature.
This project aims to demonstrate the potential of polymeric waveguide encoded lattices (PWELs) as light-management coatings to passively cool PV cells. Novel PWEL arrays will be designed and fabricated, informed by simulation, to enhance the field-of-view for light capture and thermal emission, while simultaneously enabling solar reflectance. This will be coupled with correlation of the optical properties and materials composition at the bulk/channel nanointerface to enable further design iteration. Champion PWELs will be integrated with silicon PV cells and evaluated for their efficacy as PDRC coatings. This project contains simulation, fabrication, and characterisation elements, although it can be adjusted to match student interest.