Centeno, PedroAlexandre, Miguel F.Chapa, ManuelPinto, Joana V.Deuermeier, JonasMateus, TiagoFortunato, ElviraMartins, RodrigoÁguas, HugoMendes, Manuel J.2021-05-312022-03-312020-08-012196-7350PURE: 18121115PURE UUID: 5a5247f9-26a5-4e0d-8a3d-97dc57fa0490Scopus: 85083985083WOS: 000529253400001ORCID: /0000-0003-0847-7711/work/93369374ORCID: /0000-0002-7374-0726/work/93369376ORCID: /0000-0001-7350-649X/work/93369478ORCID: /0000-0002-4202-7047/work/93369585http://hdl.handle.net/10362/118625Foundation for Science and Technology. Grant Number: UID/CTM/50025/2019 SuperSolar. Grant Number: PTDC/NAN-OPT/28430/2017 TACIT. Grant Number: PTDC/NAN-OPT/28837/2017 LocalEnergy. Grant Number: PTDC/EAM-PEC/29905/2017 FCT. Grant Number: SFRH/BD/148078/2019Photonic front-coatings with self-cleaning properties are presented as means to enhance the efficiency and outdoor performance of thin-film solar cells, via optical enhancement while simultaneously minimizing soiling-related losses. This is achieved by structuring parylene-C transparent encapsulants using a low-cost and highly-scalable colloidal-lithography methodology. As a result, superhydrophobic surfaces with broadband light-trapping properties are developed. The optimized parylene coatings show remarkably high water contact angles of up to 165.6° and extremely low adhesion, allowing effective surface self-cleaning. The controlled nano/micro-structuring of the surface features also generates strong anti-reflection and light scattering effects, corroborated by numeric electromagnetic modeling, which lead to pronounced photocurrent enhancement along the UV–vis–IR range. The impact of these photonic-structured encapsulants is demonstrated on nanocrystalline silicon solar cells, that show short-circuit current density gains of up to 23.6%, relative to planar reference cells. Furthermore, the improvement of the devices' angular response enables an enhancement of up to 35.2% in the average daily power generation.1666041engcolloidal-lithographylight managementphotovoltaicsself-cleaningsuperhydrophobicityMechanics of MaterialsMechanical Engineeringjournal article10.1002/admi.202000264https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85083985083