Solar Panels Background and Literature Review Solar cells require the use of anti-reflection coatings (ARC) that consist of one or more thin films carefully chosen for their thicknesses and refractive indexes in order to minimise reflection losses caused by common solar cell materials such as silicon, which suffers an approximate 30% loss without the use of ARC due to its high refractive index (n ≈ 3.5 – 4, in typical operation range of 400 to 1100 nm)[1],[7]. Existing ARC materials (e.g. silicon nitride, silicon oxide) are mostly oxide-based (except silicon nitride) and are prone to premature aging, UV-induced degradation, and the added complexity and cost associated with requiring protective encapsulation of such materials [2]. Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is deemed a suitable alternative ARC material as h-BN is a wide-bandgap (~6.2 eV) [3] 2D material with a refractive index of approximately 2.23 [4], along with high chemical/thermal stability, and excellent mechanical robust...
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