Highly Luminescent and Stable Organic–Inorganic Hybrid Films for Transparent Luminescent Solar Concentrators

Abstract

Here, a highly luminescent, stable, and visible-transparent organic−inorganic hybrid film was in situ synthesized in a siloxane-polyether (di-ureasil) sol−gel process by dissolving a 4-hydroxy-2-methyl-1,5-naphthyridine-3-carbonitrile (2mCND) ligand and a europium(III) ion. Doping a europium(III) complex into di-ureasil achieves an boost in photoluminescence quantum efficiency (PLQY) from 23.25 to 68.9%. In particular, the excellent photostability of the hybrid film was demonstrated after a 15 h aging experiment in strong UV-LED irradiation (∼468 mW/cm 2 ). Compared to the polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) matrix, di-ureasil containing a europium-(III) complex shows an improved UV resistance, making it a promising candidate for various photonic applications. By integrating the hybrid film onto an acrylic substrate, a transparent luminescent solar concentrator (LSC) was fabricated, which reveals an optical conversion efficiency of ∼0.51% with a G factor of 3.1 at an optical transmission level of ∼90%. Such an LSC could be of particular interest in future transparent photovoltaic windows.

Performant flexible luminescent solar concentrators of phenylpolysiloxanes crosslinked with perylene bisimide fluorophores

“…Recent studies have demonstrated that using inherently flexible siloxane-based hybrid materials effectively enhanced LSC performance and photostability. [23][24][25][26][27][28] These matrices are actually characterised by good visible transparency and thermo-mechanical, chemical and photostability, 29 and allowed the covalent attachment of a series of high QY fluorophores 30 aimed at improving the phase stability of the device with time. However, to the best of our knowledge, PCEs (η dev ) higher than 0.4% have not been reported for flexible matrices.…”

Unprecedented toughness in transparent, luminescent, self-healing polymers enabled via hierarchical rigid domain design

“…The luminescent self-healing materials synthesized by our team open potential applications in wearable devices, LED, solar cells, and self-healing electronics. [14][15][16][17]…”

Highly efficient multifunctional frosted luminescent solar concentrators with zero-energy nightscape lighting

“…Typically, LSCs consist of an optical waveguide embedded with luminescent uorophores, such as organic uorophores and quantum dots (QDs). [6][7][8][9][10][11] LSCs harvest incident sunlight and re-emit at a longer wavelength. The emitted light is transferred to edge-mounted PV cells through waveguided photoluminescence and total internal reection.…”