Efficiency boosting of silicon solar cell via radiative cooling

Efficiency boosting of silicon solar cell via radiative cooling | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Efficiency boosting of silicon solar cell via radiative cooling Yaoguang Ma, Zhuning Wang, Sijie Pian, Chengtao Lu, Peixuan Wu, and 6 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7649542/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Global photovoltaic efficiency faces fundamental thermodynamic constraints: commercial silicon solar cells lose over 4% relative efficiency per 10°C temperature rise—a penalty translating to terawatt-hour annual losses at gigawatt scale1–7, while conventional cooling methods exacerbate water8–16 and energy17–19 footprints. Current radiative cooling solutions20–24, limited by near-saturated infrared emissivity (>0.8)25 on solar cell’s top surfaces, achieve marginal sub-1% efficiency gains. We break this paradigm with a Bottom-surface Enhanced Radiative Cooling (BERC) method that exploits previously untapped thermodynamic potential: redirecting bottom-surface thermal emissions skyward via an inverse-designed, fabrication-tolerant freeform reflector. By utilizing Bayesian-optimized NURBS surface curvature, our design achieves 84% blackbody-equivalent radiation transfer within just 0.84× source footprint while tolerating large surface errors (±2% performance loss at 2 mm deviations) than nanophotonic alternatives. Field validation under 800 W/m² irradiance demonstrates >13°C temperature reduction versus commercial solar cells, translating to 6.33% efficiency gain. This passive cooling further enables potential lifetime doubling per Arrhenius aging kinetics. BERC establishes a new photonic-thermodynamic framework for sustainable energy harvesting by minimizing waste heat and enhancing watts. Physical sciences/Optics and photonics/Applied optics/Solar energy and photovoltaic technology Physical sciences/Energy science and technology/Energy harvesting/Devices for energy harvesting Physical sciences/Optics and photonics/Applied optics/Mid-infrared photonics Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files supplementarymaterials.docx supplementary_materials Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7649542","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":517083853,"identity":"9077648c-9373-4251-89bf-bd4091376614","order_by":0,"name":"Yaoguang 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