Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Solar cells

Folding photons

Scientists have shown that wrinkles and folds can be used to maximize the absorption of low-energy photons by efficiently redirecting them into a thin absorbing film. This inexpensive technique for structuring photonic substrates could be used to increase the efficiency of many organic photovoltaic cells.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Long-wavelength photons propagating across a wrinkled and folded substrate.
Figure 2: Charge generation in OPV cells.

References

  1. Kim, J. B. et al. Nature Photon. 6, 327–332 (2012).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. Wang, H.-Q., Batentschuk, M., Osvet, A., Pinna, L. & Brabec, C. J. Adv. Mater. 23, 2675–2680 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Yu, E. T. & van de Lagemaat, J. MRS Bull. 36, 424–432 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Atwater, H. A. & Polman, A. Nature Mater. 9, 205–213 (2010).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Koo, W. H. et al. Nature Photon. 4, 222–226 10.1038/nphoton.2012.70(2010).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Vandewal, K., Tvingstedt, K., Gadisa, A., Inganäs, O. & Manca, J. V. Nature Mater. 8, 904–909 (2009).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Brian A. Gregg.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Gregg, B., van de Lagemaat, J. Folding photons. Nature Photon 6, 278–280 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2012.84

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2012.84

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing