Solar simulator filter and a method of fabricating thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2019049078-A1
Application number	US-201715672990-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 9, 2017
Priority date	Aug 9, 2017
Publication date	Feb 14, 2019
Grant date	—

Abstract

A solar simulator filter that includes a flexible substrate and one or more layers of oxide materials, e.g. fluorine-doped tin oxide and indium-doped tin oxide, wherein a thickness of said layers is no more than 500 nm, and wherein the solar simulator filter generates a spectral output that closely matches a solar irradiance spectrum. Various embodiments of the solar simulator filter and a method of fabricating thereof is described.

First claim

1 . A solar simulator filter, comprising:
a flexible substrate; and an oxide material disposed on the flexible substrate, wherein the oxide material comprises fluorine-doped tin oxide, and wherein the solar simulator filter transmits light having an irradiance in the range of 1.0 to 1.6 W/m 2 /nm in the wavelength range of 300 to 750 nm, an irradiance in the range of 0.4 to 1.0 W/m 2 /nm in the wavelength range of 750 to 1,400 nm, and an irradiance in the range of 0.1 to 0.4 W/m 2 /nm in the wavelength range of 1,400 to 2,500 nm.

2 . The solar simulator filter of claim 1 , wherein the oxide material further comprises an oxide of a post-transition metal selected from the groups 13 to 15 of the periodic table.

3 . The solar simulator filter of claim 2 , wherein the oxide of the post-transition metal is indium oxide, tin oxide, and/or indium-doped tin oxide.

4 . The solar simulator filter of claim 1 , wherein the flexible substrate has a transmittance of at least 60% at a wavelength in the range of 300 to 2,500 nm.

5 . The solar simulator filter of claim 1 , wherein the flexible substrate is a thermoplastic polymer selected from the group consisting of polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene, polypropylene, and polyvinyl chloride.

6 . The solar simulator filter of claim 1 , wherein an average particle size of the fluorine-doped tin oxide is in the range of 1 to 100 nm.

7 . The solar simulator filter of claim 1 , wherein an amount of fluorine in the fluorine-doped tin oxide is in the range of 0.1 to 5 wt %, relative to the total weight of the fluorine-doped tin oxide.

8 . The solar simulator filter of claim 1 , wherein the oxide material further comprises indium-doped tin oxide, and wherein an amount of indium in the indium-doped tin oxide is in the range of 8 to 10 wt %, relative to the total weight of the indium-doped tin oxide.

9 . The solar simulator filter of claim 1 , wherein the oxide material disposed on the flexible substrate is in a form of a layer with a thickness of 50 to 200 nm.

10 . The solar simulator filter of claim 1 , wherein the flexible substrate has a thickness in the range of 50 μm to 5 mm.

11 . The solar simulator filter of claim 1 , which has a surface resistivity in the range of 5 to 60 Ω/sq.

12 . A solar simulator device, comprising:
at least one light source with a power output in the range of 0.1 to 1.5 W/m 2 /nm; and the solar simulator filter of claim 1 disposed within a distance of 0.1 to 5 m from said light source, wherein at least a portion of light provided by said light source is configured to transmit through the solar simulator filter.

13 . A method of fabricating the solar simulator filter of claim 1 , comprising:
mixing a fluorine-containing compound with water and a first amount of a dihydroxyalkane to form a fluorine-containing solution; separately mixing a tin-containing compound with water and a second amount of the dihydroxyalkane to form a tin-containing solution; mixing the fluorine-containing solution with the tin-containing solution and an alkanolamine to form a spin-coating precursor; and spin-coating the spin-coating precursor on the flexible substrate to form the solar simulator filter.

14 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
separately mixing an indium-containing compound with water and a third amount of the dihydroxyalkane to form an indium-containing solution; and mixing the indium-containing solution with the spin-coating precursor prior to the spin-coating.

15 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the spin-coating precursor is spin-coated at a centrifugal speed of 2400 to 3600 rpm for a period of 10 to 60 seconds.

16 . The method of claim 14 ,
wherein the dihydroxyalkane is ethylene glycol, and wherein the fluorine-containing compound is ammonium fluoride or a fluoride compound of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal, the tin-containing compound is a tin nitrate, a tin acetate, a tin sulfate, or a hydrate thereof, and the indium-containing compound is indium nitrate, indium acetate, indium sulfate, or a hydrate thereof.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the fluorine-containing compound is ammonium fluoride, the tin-containing compound is tin acetate, and the indium-containing compound is indium nitrate.

18 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the alkanolamine is triethanolamine, and wherein the spin-coating precursor has a pH in the range of 2 to 5.

19 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the fluorine-doped tin oxide disposed on the flexible substrate is in a form of a layer with a thickness of 50 to 200 nm.

20 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
drying the solar simulator filter; and repeating the spin-coating and the drying until a thickness of the fluorine-doped tin oxide disposed on the flexible substrate gets a value in the range of 200 to 500 nm.

Assignees

• Univ King Abdulaziz

Inventors

• Yakuphanoglu Fahrettin
• Al-Ghamdi Ahmed A

Classifications

• G01J1/08

  Arrangements of light sources specially adapted for photometry {standard sources, also using luminescent or radioactive material} · CPC title

• G01J1/0488

  with spectral filtering · CPC title

• H02S50/10

  Testing of PV devices, e.g. of PV modules or single PV cells (testing of semiconductor devices during manufacturing {H10P74/00}) · CPC title

• F21S8/006 Primary

  Solar simulators, e.g. for testing photovoltaic panels · CPC title

• H02S50/15

  using optical means, e.g. using electroluminescence · CPC title