Efficient Luminescent Solar Concentrators Based on Environmentally Friendly Cd‐Free Ternary AIS/ZnS Quantum Dots

Abstract

Luminescent solar concentrators (LSC) allow to obtain renewable energy from building integrated photovoltaic systems. As promising efficient and long‐term stable LSC fluorophores semiconductor nanocrystals like quantum dots (QDs) with size and composition tunable optoelectronic properties have recently emerged. The most popular II/VI or IV/VI semiconductor QDs contain, however, potentially hazardous cadmium or lead ions, which is a bottleneck for commercial applications. A simple aqueous based, microwave‐assisted synthesis for environmentally friendly and highly emissive AgInS2/ZnS QDs is developed using 3‐mercaptopropionic acid (MPA) and glutathione (GSH) and their incorporation into polylaurylmethacrylate (PLMA) polymer slabs integrable in LSC devices (10.4 × 10.4 × 0.2 cm3, G = 12.98). With this simple approach, optical power efficiencies (OPE) of 3.8% and 3.6% and optical quantum efficiencies (OQE) of 24.1% and 27.4% are obtained, which are among the highest values yet reported.

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

“…Recently, the LSCs using quantum dots as emitters have widely been fabricated to reduce the photovoltaic production cost. , These quantum dots are mainly composed of semiconductor nanocrystals, carbon dots, , perovskite nanocrystals, , and silicon quantum dots . In order to develop high-efficiency LSCs with long-term stability, several strategies to optimize the structure of quantum dots have been demonstrated in the literature, including surface engineering, co-doping method, ion exchange. ,− For example, Wu et al prepared stable and bright near-infrared emissive thin-film LSCs using TPP-treated CsPbI 3 nanocrystals, achieving a high optical conversion efficiency of 3.1% at a geometric factor of 10 . Zhou et al fabricated two types of LSCs based on oil-soluble oleylamine-treated C-dots, which exhibit a PLQY of ∼30% and an excellent stability without any emission loss .…”

Ambient Stable CsPbBr3/ZnO Nanostructures for Ethanolamine Sensing

“…In recent years, a variety of organic ligands have been used for efficient interface modulation engineering. Cysteine, glutathione, 3-mercaptopropionic acid (MPA), thiolated PEG, thioglycolic acid, and so forth are often used as auxiliary ligands for passivating interface defects. − At the same time, some multifunctional ligand molecules with hydrophilic properties may cover the surface of perovskites, then those abundant surface functional groups play an important role in preventing the effectiveness of nanocrystals from oxidation and degradation …”

Influence of Hydrophilic Thiol Ligands of Varying Denticity on the Luminescence Properties and Colloidal Stability of Quaternary Semiconductor Nanocrystals

“…Recently, also the organic-to-aqueous phase transfer of ZAIS QDs was assessed by NMR spectroscopy for the hydrophilic ligands 11-mercapto­undecanoic acid, DHLA, and cysteine, and the efficiency of the ligand exchange and its influence on the PL QY were determined . Other studies of ligand exchange procedures for ternary or quaternary QDs focus on the impact of this exchange on QD performance in applications such as hydrogen production, optoelectronic devices, ,, and bioimaging. ,,− However, life sciences application-dedicated studies of the effect of biocompatible surface ligands are still scarce, especially the systematic exploration of the influence of ligand denticity on the colloidal stability and optoelectronic properties of ternary and quaternary QDs.…”

“…This initiated the search for QD alternatives made from less toxic and more earth abundant elements with comparable optical properties as binary QDs that should be ideally accessible by greener synthetic protocols. Among promising and less toxic alternatives are ternary nanocrystals that contain I–III–VI group elements, namely AgInS 2 (AIS) and CuInS 2 (CIS), and quaternary nanocrystals like AgInS 2 –ZnS (ZAIS). − These QDs could eventually replace Cd- and Pb-based nanocrystals in some applications as light emitters, including sensitized solar cells and solar concentrators, − hydrogen production, and cellular imaging studies. , The optical properties of ternary and quaternary QDs depend on size and chemical composition and differ in many aspects from those of binary II–VI, III–V, and IV–VI QDs. , While high-quality binary QDs exhibit relatively narrow and symmetrically shaped emission bands and lifetimes in the shorter nanosecond range, AIS, CIS, and ZAIS QDs show broad PL bands, large Stokes shifts, and PL lifetimes of a few hundred nanoseconds, which indicate the involvement of intragap levels in their PL. ,, The PL features of the latter QDs have been explained by different PL mechanisms such as the radiative recombination of donor–acceptor pairs (DAP) or the self-trapped exciton model (STE), which describes the recombination of a localized hole with a conduction band electron, or a combination of these mechanisms. − The most widely accepted model presently is the radiative recombination of donor–acceptor pairs together with the participation of surface traps …”