Design, fabrication, and characterization of a luminescent solar concentrator with optimized optical concentration through minimization of optical losses

Martínez, Ana Luisa; Gómez, David

doi:10.1117/1.jpe.6.045504

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…[3] Upon renaissance of LSCs, the possible use of FRET was rediscussed and investigated by several groups. [124][125][126][127][128][129][130] Thin-film LSCs with an emitting system based on FRET between rubrene and a dicyanomethylene dye have been investigated. A C of 8 under monochromatic irradiation was estimated from an EQE spectrum and a PCE of 6.8% was projected for tandem systems.…”

Section: Organic Emittersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The obtained C value of 0.8 was claimed as the highest ever reported (sic). [130] Some recent works have developed luminophores endowed with AIE [110] as a possible approach to limit SA. [131][132][133][134][135][136][137] In AIE systems, the energy cost required to form the emissive aggregated state should result in a larger Stokes shift than that of the chromophore in diluted solution.…”

Section: Organic Emittersmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Luminescent Solar Collectors: Quo Vadis?

Roncali

2020

Advanced Energy Materials

120

111

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Luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) are optical systems that absorb, convert, and concentrate solar light by means of photoluminescence of an emitting material embedded in a transparent waveguide. LSCs combine large possibilities of variation of shape, flexibility, color, and transparency and can operate under direct or diffuse light. LSCs were actively investigated in the period 1975–1985 in view of photovoltaic (PV) conversion. After 20 years of sleep, research on LSCs has reemerged in the first years of the millennium driven by their potential application for PV conversion in built environment. Research on LSCs aims at the development of new active and passive components, namely emitting and light‐guiding materials, and at the reduction of the loss factors associated with the elemental processed involved in the operation in order to improve power conversion efficiency. After a brief historical account, the operating principles, characterization, components, technology, and applications are reviewed. Finally, the performance of LSCs are critically discussed in a global perspective with particular emphasis on the basic contradiction between light concentration and conversion efficiency leading to some suggestions for future development of the topic.

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Section: Organic Emittersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Organic Emittersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Luminescent Solar Collectors: Quo Vadis?

Roncali

2020

Advanced Energy Materials

120

111

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“…Despite extensive research and development, LSC module concentration and efficiency suffers from two key loss mechanisms [9], [10]. First, embedded luminophores require nearunity photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) in order to achieve desired optical efficiencies [11]. To prevent excess nonradiative recombination, overlap between luminophore absorbed and emitted photon energies needs to be minimized by employing luminophores that exhibit a Stokes shift [12], [13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design Criteria for Micro-Optical Tandem Luminescent Solar Concentrators

Needell

Ilic

Bukowsky

et al. 2018

IEEE J. Photovoltaics

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Traditional concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) systems utilize multijunction cells to minimize thermalization losses, but cannot efficiently capture diffuse sunlight, which contributes to a high levelized cost of energy (LCOE) and limits their use to geographical regions with high direct sunlight insolation. Luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) harness light generated by luminophores embedded in a light-trapping waveguide to concentrate light onto smaller cells. LSCs can absorb both direct and diffuse sunlight, and thus can operate as flat plate receivers at a fixed tilt and with a conventional module form factor. However, current LSCs experience significant power loss through parasitic luminophore absorption and incomplete light trapping by the optical waveguide. Here we introduce a tandem LSC device architecture that overcomes both of these limitations, consisting of a PLMA polymer layer with embedded CdSe/CdS quantum dot (QD) luminophores and InGaP micro-cells, which serve as a high bandgap absorber on top of a conventional Si photovoltaic. We experimentally synthesize CdSe/CdS QDs with exceptionally high quantum-yield (99%) and ultra-narrowband emission optimally matched to fabricated III-V InGaP microcells. Using a Monte Carlo ray-tracing model, we show the radiative limit power conversion efficiency for a module with these components to be 30.8% diffuse sunlight conditions. These results indicate that a tandem LSC-on-Si architecture could significantly improve upon the efficiency of a conventional Si photovoltaic module with simple and straightforward alterations of the module lamination steps of a Si photovoltaic manufacturing process, with promise for widespread module deployment across diverse geographical regions and energy markets.

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“…Among these include the luminophore PLQY, optical density of luminophores, GG of the LSC system, Stokes shift of the luminophore absorption/PL profiles, trapping efficiency of the emitted PL, reabsorption probability by the luminophore species, attenuation and bulk/surface scattering by the host waveguide, and the quantum efficiency of the photovoltaic cell collector . Previous studies have highlighted the most important parameters for LSC optical and conversion efficiency; PLQY, PL trapping, optical density, and GG are observed to be highly influential for a given luminophore and LSC system type. − While some parameters need to be maximized ( e.g ., PLQY) or minimized ( e.g ., attenuation in the waveguide), others attain optimal values that strongly depend on the entire LSC design, complicating the process ( e.g ., optical density, GG). , In addition, there exist numerous pathways for photon loss intrinsic to the LSC design. Consequently, the single-junction LSC conversion efficiency remains limited to below 10%, with the current record achieving 7.1% under 1 sun illumination …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unlocking Higher Power Efficiencies in Luminescent Solar Concentrators through Anisotropic Luminophore Emission

Burgt

Needell

Veeken

et al. 2021

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

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The luminescent solar concentrator (LSC) offers a potential pathway for achieving low-cost, fixed-tilt light concentration. Despite decades of research, conversion efficiency for LSC modules has fallen far short of that achievable by geometric concentrators. However, recent advances in anisotropically emitting nanophotonic structures could enable a significant step forward in efficiency. Here, we employ Monte Carlo ray-trace modeling to evaluate the conversion efficiency for anisotropic luminophore emission as a function of photoluminescence quantum yield, waveguide concentration, and geometric gain. By spanning the full LSC parameter space, we define a roadmap toward high conversion efficiency. An analytical function is derived for the dark radiative current of an LSC to calculate the conversion efficiency from the ray-tracing results. We show that luminescent concentrator conversion efficiency can be increased from the current record value of 7.1–9.6% by incorporating anisotropy. We provide design parameters for optimized luminescent solar concentrators with practical geometrical gains of 10. Using luminophores with strongly anisotropic emission and high (99%) quantum yield, we conclude that conversion efficiencies beyond 28% are achievable. This analysis reveals that for high LSC performance, waveguide losses are as important as the luminophore quantum yield.

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Design, fabrication, and characterization of a luminescent solar concentrator with optimized optical concentration through minimization of optical losses

Cited by 8 publications

References 22 publications

Luminescent Solar Collectors: Quo Vadis?

Luminescent Solar Collectors: Quo Vadis?

Design Criteria for Micro-Optical Tandem Luminescent Solar Concentrators

Unlocking Higher Power Efficiencies in Luminescent Solar Concentrators through Anisotropic Luminophore Emission

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