Technical Papers and Presentations

A solar cell offers a potential solution to energy shortage problems by converting sunlight into electrical power. Organic solar cells (OSCs) are low-cost and versatile, but also tend to be low-efficiency and short-lasted. Three macroscopic parameters determine their power-conversion efficiency: the photon absorption, the energy band gap of the material, and the device resistance. An optical interference effect occurs on thin-film OSCs; thus, optical modeling is important to improve their absorption efficiency. Using COMSOL Multiphysics, we investigate the optical interference effect in each layer of a multi-layered structure, the optical field distribution, the results of using folded OSCs for increased light trapping, the effect of the folding angle on the calculated power dissipation, and the polarization. The optical absorption property of a V-shaped OSC is calculated and analyzed in terms of the polarization dependency.