Exploring Light???s Interactions with Bubbles and Light Absorbers in Photoelectrochemical Devices using Ray Tracing

Stevens, John Colby¹  Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering] 

[1] Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). The Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis

关键词: Strontium Titanate;    Photoelectrochemical Devices;    Water Splitting;    Solar Fuels Photovoltaic Energy;    Microrod Array;    Light Absorption;    Optics;    Ray Tracing;    Genetic Algorithm;    Bubbles;    Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis;    JCAP;   

DOI  :  10.2172/1168604
RP-ID  :  LBNL--6070E
PID  :  OSTI ID: 1168604

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来源: SciTech Connect

【 摘 要 】

Ray tracing was used to perform optical optimization of arrays of photovoltaic microrods and explore the interaction between light and bubbles of oxygen gas on the surface of the microrods. The incident angle of light was varied over a wide range. The percent of incident light absorbed by the microrods and reflected by the bubbles was computed over this range. It was found that, for the 10 ??m diameter, 100 ??m tall SrTiO₃ microrods simulated in the model, the optimal center-??to-??center spacing was 14 ??m for a square grid. This geometry produced 75% average and 90% maximum absorbance. For a triangular grid using the same microrods, the optimal center-??to-??center spacing was 14 ??m. This geometry produced 67% average and 85% maximum absorbance. For a randomly laid out grid of 5 ??m diameter, 100 ??m tall SrTiO₃ microrods with an average center-??to-??center spacing of 20 ??m, the average absorption was 23% and the maximum absorption was 43%. For a 50% areal coverage fraction of bubbles on the absorber surface, between 2%-??20% of the incident light energy was reflected away from the rods by the bubbles, depending upon incident angle and bubble morphology.