Fabrication of fluorescent PMMA-carbon nanodots optical films and their feasibility in improving solar cells efficiency using low-cost sustainable materials

Abstract

Nitrogen-doped carbon nanodots synthesized from L-arginine and ethylenediamine (NCNDs); citric acidderived carbon nanodots with carboxylic surface groups (α-CDs); and Silica-Cdots hybrids produced through coupling α-CDs to SiO 2 nanoparticles were used for the fabrication of uorescent PMMA-CDs optical lms. PMMA naturally emits luminescence when irradiated by 300-320 nm and the nanoparticles occlusion allows the conversion of a broader UV bandwidth to the visible: emissions around 450 nm are observed for excitations from 330-360 nm. Since this photoluminescence could increase the e ciency of solar energy concentrators and generators, photovoltaic cells were coated with lms obtained with the blue-emitting NCNDs for a proof-of-concept of increasing the cells' e ciencies with such materials. At our preliminary experiments, even using a setup with low contact of the optical polymer lm on silicon surface, a promising increase from 4.24% to 4.72% cell e ciency was observed, showing the feasibility and potential for application of these environmentally friendly materials.

Optical and UV Shielding Properties of Inorganic Nanoparticles Embedded in Polymethyl Methacrylate Nanocomposite Freestanding Films

“…PMMA is an outstanding matrix material for oxide and other nanofillers; their luminescent spectra are not due to simple matrix and filler material superposition but depend on many interaction factors among the composite materials [ 42 ]. Nanoparticles smaller than organic molecular levels impregnated with polymer chains can exhibit enhanced optical properties [ 43 ]. Including nanoparticles in the PMMA matrix contributes to various functional groups and emission sites, resulting in multicolor fluorescence effects depending on excitation wavelengths.…”

“…TiO2/PMMA and CQD/PMMA films exhibit additional wide emission bands at about 370 and 425 nm, respectively, compared with CNT/PMMA. CQD/PMMA exhibits wide fluorescence from 350 to 475 nm, indicating that its fluorescence is in the visible range due to quantum confinement [43]. CQD/PMMA film luminescence in the visible range can be exploited to enhance external quantum efficiency in photovoltaic cells by All the composite films exhibit fluorescence emission from 300 to 350 nm centered around 320 nm with a slight shift towards higher wavelengths depending on the nanofiller materials (see Figure 12).…”