A Universal Route to Realize Radiative Cooling and Light Management in Photovoltaic Modules

Photovoltaic (PV) modules are not only an opto-electrical system, but also opto-thermal one, where the optical, electrical, and thermodynamic domains are strongly coupled. The means to suppress both light and heat losses in PV modules remains undeveloped. Herein, a universal route to realize both radiative cooling and light management via the ultra-broadband versatile textures is proposed, originating from the interaction with the visible, near-infrared, and mid-infrared electromagnetic waves (EMWs) via geometric, diffractive, and subwavelength optical effects. The sol–gel imprinted ultra-broadband textures exhibited a near-unity infrared emissivity over 0.96 at the atmospheric window between 8 to 13 μm for radiative cooling, and a solar transmittance and haze above 0.94 and 0.95 at the wavelengths from 350 to 750 nm, respectively, for light management. Applying the ultra-broadband textures imprinted glass to silicon PV modules as an encapsulant cover, the short-circuit current and conversion efficiency were increased by 5.12 and 3.13% in relative terms, respectively. The fabrication of such ultra-broadband versatile textures was photolithography-free, scalable, and PV industry compatible, which provided a cost-effective, long-term durable, and energy-efficient means to both light and thermal management through ultra-broadband matter-EMW interaction not only in PV modules, but also various opto-electro-thermal devices.