A droplet manipulation on a liquid crystal and polymer composite film as a concentrator and a sun tracker for a concentrating photovoltaic system

We demonstrate a droplet manipulation on a liquid crystal and polymer composite film (LCPCF) as a concentrator and a sun tracker for a concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) system with a steady output electric power. The CPV system adopts a liquid lens on LCPCF whose curvature is not only tunable but position is also bistably switchable based on liquid crystal orientations on LCPCF. The change of curvature of the liquid lens results in a tunable concentration ratio which helps to increase photocurrent at a low illumination and prevent the effect of the series resistance at a high illumination. Moreover, the change of the position of the liquid lens helps to track sun owing to sun movement. Therefore, the output power of such a system is steady no matter the sunlight condition and the angle of incident light. The operating principles and experiments are investigated. The concept in this paper can be extended to design optical components for obtaining steady output power of the solar cell at indoor or outdoor use and also tracking sunlight. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.