Roll-to-roll nanoimprint lithography of high efficiency Fresnel lenses for micro-concentrator photovoltaics

Roll-to-roll nanoimprint lithography (R2R-NIL) is an enabling technology for the low-cost mass production of high-quality micro- and nano-sized optical elements. Particularly, the fabrication of Fresnel lenses using R2R-NIL is a promising approach to produce optical arrays for micro-concentrator photovoltaic modules. This work investigates the application of a continuous R2R imprinting process based on ultraviolet curing of transparent photopolymer resins (UV-NIL) to fabricate high-efficiency and low-cost Fresnel lenses. The morphological attributes and the related optical performance of the lenses fabricated using roll-to-roll UV-NIL on flexible PET sheets yielded optical efficiency values up to similar to 69% at a concentration ratio of 178X, whereas a value of similar to 77% was obtained for the UV-NIL batch processed on a flat rigid substrate. Further improvement of the optical efficiency has been achieved by adding moth-eye inspired antireflective (AR) features on the side opposite to the Fresnel motifs via a double-sided R2R UV-NIL process. The process developed paves the way for cost-effective mass production of high-efficiency Fresnel lenses for micro-concentrator photovoltaics. (C) 2021 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement

Automated summary

Roll-to-roll nanoimprint lithography (R2R-NIL) and ultraviolet curing of transparent photopolymer resins (UV-NIL) are used to fabricate high-efficiency and low-cost Fresnel lenses; optical efficiency values of up to 69% on flexible PET sheets and 77% on flat rigid substrates are achieved; further improvement is made by adding moth-eye inspired antireflective (AR) features through a double-sided R2R UV-NIL process.