Broadband solar distributed Bragg reflector design using numerical optimization

•Designed distributed Bragg reflectors for high broadband solar reflectivity.•The contrast of materials refractive indices is adjusted by changing porosity.•Reflectivity of the proposed design is compared with quarter wavelength DBRs. In this paper, we optimize the structure of the multi-paired SiO2...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Solar energy 2021-06, Vol.221, p.384-392
Main Authors: Kim, Hansol, Kaya, Mine, Hajimirza, Shima
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Broad-band Distributed Bragg Reflector
Broadband
Design optimization
Irradiance
Material design
Numerical optimization
Optical properties
Porosity
Reflectance
Refractivity
Silicon dioxide
Solar energy
Titanium dioxide
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Summary:•Designed distributed Bragg reflectors for high broadband solar reflectivity.•The contrast of materials refractive indices is adjusted by changing porosity.•Reflectivity of the proposed design is compared with quarter wavelength DBRs. In this paper, we optimize the structure of the multi-paired SiO2/TiO2 Bragg reflector to obtain broad-band and broad-angled high solar reflectivity in visible to near-infrared frequencies. To control the refractive index contrast in the BR pairs, the porosity of SiO2 (same across all layers) is also allowed to change. We study the trade-off between the number of pairs and porosity and the overall performance of the structure. As a result of the optimization, we demonstrate that a 15-pair structure can yield an average reflectivity twice that of a quarter-wavelength stack rule design for extraterrestrial irradiance.
ISSN:0038-092X
1471-1257
DOI:10.1016/j.solener.2021.04.045