Engineering the randomness for enhanced absorption in solar cells

Photon management by means of random textured surfaces is known to be a promising route to increase the light absorption in a solar cell. To date this randomness was only a posteriori assessed and related to the absorption. Here, we will outline a meaningful strategy for a priori and purposely tailoring the randomness. By defining appropriate angular scattering functions and optimizing the surface profiles, it is shown that the number of absorbed photons can be enhanced by 55% compared to flat-surface solar cells. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.