title: Simulation and analysis of prismatic bioinspired compound lenses for solar cells.
abstract: Inspired by the apposition compound eyes of many dipterans, we formulated a fractal scheme to design prismatic lenses to improve the performance of silicon solar cells. We simulated the absorption of light, both directly illuminating and diffuse, using the geometrical-optics approximation. We found that properly designed bioinspired compound lenses (BCLs) can significantly improve the light-harvesting capabilities of silicon solar cells. The degree of improvement will depend on the material chosen to make the BCLs as well as the operating conditions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Information Engineering, University of Salerno, via Ponte Don Melillo, Fisciano, SA, Italy. fchiadini@unisa.it
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Chiadini
authors.forename: Vincenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Fiumara
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Scaglione
authors.forename: Akhlesh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lakhtakia
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D040761:Biomimetic Materials; D054910:Compound Eye, Arthropod / Q000502:physiology*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D004175:Diptera / Q000502:physiology*; D011211:Electric Power Supplies; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D007908:Lens, Crystalline / Q000502:physiology*; D007909:Lenses; D008954:Models, Biological; D012031:Refractometry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012993:Solar Energy