Low-cost, flexible, and self-cleaning 3D nanocone anti-reflection films for high-efficiency photovoltaics.

Low-cost engineered nanotemplates are used to mold flexible nanocone anti-reflection (AR) films. Both optical reflectance measurements and photovoltaics characterizations demonstrate that the flexible nanocone AR films can considerably suppress device front-side reflectance and thus improve the power conversion efficiency of high-efficiency thin-film CdTe solar cells. Additionally, these nanocone AR films are found to be superhydrophobic and thus possess self-cleaning capability.