Design and fabrication of a new sol-gel based planar solar concentrator for cost effective photovoltaics

A planar concentrating solar cell based on a highly transparent sol-gel concentrator, metallic mirrors, and double sided PV devices is described. Highly transparent silica glasses, synthesized by sol-gel polymerization of tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS), accompanied with an Ag back reflector were used for concentrating sunlight. By using TEOS, hydrochloric acid, ethanol, and water as the precursors for synthesizing sol-gel glass and optimizing the polymerization process, highly transparent glasses with absorption coefficients of as low as 0.1 cm⁻¹ were obtained in a wide wavelength spectrum ranging from 350 nm – 1100 nm. The sol-gel material was cast into desired shape. The proposed planar solar cell was simulated using the data obtained from UV-Vis absorption measurements and it was shown that the proposed design is capable of reducing the area of PV devices up to 75%.