Bow-tie infrared antennas for solar energy collection

Abstract

In recent years, there have been a lot of progress to replace conventional photovoltaic solar cells with nano-antennas to improve the performance of solar cells. These antennas can convert solar infrared radiation into DC output by using a proper rectifier. This paper presents a bow-tie nano-antenna that works in infrared frequencies band to collect solar energy. Our goal is to design a bow-tie nano-antenna for maximum solar energy collection in infrared region. Different flare angles for bow-tie geometries are compared to each other and we studied the effect of substrate thickness on electric field enhancement. We found that electric field maximum occurs for 60° flare angle bowtie and glass thickness plays a critical role on electric field enhancement at the feeding point of the antenna.