Increased Power Output of Thin Film GaAs Solar Cells on Flexible Metal Substrates Using PDMS Microconcentrators

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microlenses have been used as a microconcentrators to increase the power output of thin film GaAs solar cells fabricated on flexible substrates, by nearly 12 fold. The maximum power output is obtained with PDMS microlens of a focal length of 1.1 cm. The open circuit voltage of flexible GaAs solar cells increases by more than 30% and the short circuit current density increases 7-fold with the use of PDMS microlens at 1 sun; these values are comparable with the increase measured in the flexible GaAs solar cells at 13 suns using conventional concentrator optics.