Luminescent Solar Power—PV/Thermal Hybrid Electricity Generation for Cost-Effective Dispatchable Solar Energy

Abstract

The challenge in solar energy today is not the cost of photovoltaic (PV) electricity generation, already competing with fossil fuel prices, but rather utility-scale energy storage and flexibility in supply. Low-cost thermal energy storage (TES) exists but relies on expensive heat engines. Here, we introduce the concept of luminescent solar power (LSP), where sunlight is absorbed in a photoluminescent (PL) absorber, followed by red-shifted PL emission matched to an adjacent PV cell’s band edge. This way the PV cell operates nearly as efficiently as under direct illumination but with minimal excessive heat. The PL absorber temperature rises because of thermalization, allowing it to store the excessive heat, which can later be converted into electricity. Tailored luminescent materials that support an additional 1.5 kW h PV electricity for every 1 kW h of (virtual) heat engine electricity with a dynamic shift between the two sources are experimentally demonstrated. Such an ideal hybrid system may lead to a potential reduction in the cost of electricity for a base-load solution.

Optical Phenomena in Molecule-Based Magnetic Materials

“…Specific physicochemical properties of luminescent materials, related to their ability to emit light due to the absorption of photons, chemical reaction, exposure to electric current, mechanical action, or ionizing radiation, as well as the sensitivity of this property to external stimuli, are the key elements for technological development. − These materials arouse an enormous scientific interest due to their diverse applications for cathode-ray or fluorescent tubes, chemical sensing, anticounterfeiting, display devices, optical communication, energy conversion, optical storage, photovoltaics, photonics, biological imaging, and molecular thermometry . In many of these areas, for instance, in the context of light-emitting diodes (LEDs), organic photovoltaics, and fluorescent probes for diagnostics, the progress is really impressive making the exploration of luminescence of new materials a multidisciplinary field desired in various, sometimes very different branches of science and technology. − …”

“…Some of these features can be overcome by judicious synthetic approaches; however, as an attractive alternative, luminescent materials based on metal ions and their complexes were broadly recognized. ,,, Among them, metal complexes were found promising prerequisites, especially when considering their ability to tune the structure and properties using a molecular building blocks approach, as well as their great sensitivity to external stimuli, which is an important point towards applications, e.g., in sensors of chemical and physical stimuli . Thanks to these characteristics, luminescent materials based on metal complexes, ranging from discrete molecules to coordination polymers (CPs), including metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), are intensively studied as functional solid luminophores offering multiple optical functionalities, such as white-light emission, , multicolored tunable visible emission, long-lived near-infrared phosphorescence, , and the nonlinear optical property of up-conversion luminescence (UCL). , They are efficiently realized by the photo- and electroluminescent materials, the most attractive light-emitting phenomena for the application aspect. − Moreover, luminescent materials based on metal complexes are excellent platforms for the construction of multifunctional molecular systems, for which light emission property is combined with porosity, ferroelectricity, ionic conductivity, catalytic activity, and many others. − This section will discuss the advances in combining luminescent properties with magnetic effects in molecular materials, mentioning, more generally, all the aspects of molecular magnetism where the luminescent signal from a metal complex became an important issue. The following parts of this section will include the design of luminescent magnetically ordered phases (), luminescent spin transition materials (), light-emitting molecular nanomagnets (), as well as more specialized hot research topics, including luminescent thermometers based on single-molecule magnets (), valuable magneto-optical correlations in luminescent molecular nanomagnets (), magnetic field control over emission (), and the exploration of a luminescent signal in molecular qubit systems ().…”

Exploration of the European agrivoltaics landscape in the context of global climate change

“…At a time of energy shortage and global climate change, new energy sources such as photovoltaic (PV) power generation are gaining attention worldwide in order to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality [7]. However, the disadvantage of the large footprint of PV has also become a resistance to its promotion.…”

Profitability of Hydrogen-Based Microgrids: A Novel Economic Analysis in Terms of Electricity Price and Equipment Costs

“…To make RESs and storage systems economically competitive for self-consumption, there are different proposals that can be classified between the following: (1) Those focused on the energy-management strategy (EMS), such as a mixed-integer linear-programming (MILP) model to minimise the operating cost of a microgrid [16], or the use of a deep deterministic policy-gradient algorithm in order to reduce microgrid operating costs [17]. (2) Those based on the use of low-cost materials and equipment for the microgrid, such as the use of a photoluminescent (PL) absorber of luminescent solar power (LSP) to reduce solar-PV energy costs [18], or the use, in redox flow batteries (RFBs), of low-cost polymeric redox-active materials and porous size-exclusion membranes of commodity polymers instead of more expensive options like inorganic redox-active materials and ion-exchange membranes, respectively [19].…”