Highly efficient luminescent solar concentrators based on earth-abundant indirect-bandgap silicon quantum dots

Abstract

Building-integrated photovoltaics is gaining consensus as a renewable energy technology for producing electricity at the point of use. Luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) could extend architectural integration to the urban environment by realizing electrode-less photovoltaic windows. Crucial for large-area LSCs is the suppression of reabsorption losses, which requires emitters with negligible overlap between their absorption and emission spectra. Here, we demonstrate the use of indirect-bandgap semiconductor nanostructures such as highly emissive silicon quantum dots. Silicon is non-toxic, low-cost and ultra-earth-abundant, which avoids the limitations to the industrial scaling of quantum dots composed of low-abundance elements. Suppressed reabsorption and scattering losses lead to nearly ideal LSCs with an optical efficiency of η = 2.85%, matching state-of-the-art semi-transparent LSCs. Monte Carlo simulations indicate that optimized silicon quantum dot LSCs have a clear path to η > 5% for 1 m 2 devices. We are finally able to realize flexible LSCs with performances comparable to those of flat concentrators, which opens the way to a new design freedom for building-integrated photovoltaics elements. MainThe continuous increase in performance of silicon-based photovoltaic (Si-PV) systems and the economic incentive programmes that have characterized the fiscal policies of

The Renaissance of Luminescent Solar Concentrators: The Role of Inorganic Nanomaterials

“…[105] In addition, the broad, unstructured absorption spectrum of silicon nanocrystals allow for the preparation of semitransparent LSC devices, as recently reported by embedding NIR luminescent nanocrystals in a PLMA-co-EGDM matrix [106] (Figure 7). Whereas the luminescence of these materials is affected by extremely low QY in bulk, nanostructures based on Si and Ge are showing similar properties to the ones of direct band gap semiconductors, among which size-dependent luminescence.…”

“…Energy Mater. [106] Copyright 2017, Nature Publishing Group. a) Normalized PL spectra measured at different optical paths for the as Si QDs-based LSC, showing negligible reshift due to the lack of reabsorption.…”

Heavy Metal Free Nanocrystals with Near Infrared Emission Applying in Luminescent Solar Concentrator

“…Introduction : Nanocrystals (NCs) based luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) have been intensively investigated during the past several years as a promising energy harvest technique, normally integrated with c‐Si photovoltaics (PVs) in building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) . For realizing the energy harvest, NCs‐LSCs could guide incident light to PVs pasted on the edges of LSCs for power conversion by total internal reflection (TIR).…”

Polarity‐Induced Excited‐State Intramolecular Proton Transfer (ESIPT) in a Pair of Supramolecular Isomeric Multifunctional Dynamic Metal–Organic Frameworks

“…[1][2][3][4] The most remarkable outcomeo fa nE SIPT-driven system is the broad,t unable, and dual emission, with al arge Stokes shift, that coversalarge part of the visible-light spectrum. [1][2][3] For theser easons, materials that exhibit the ESIPT phenomenon have been successfully utilized in different optoelectronic applications, for example, in solar concentrators, [5] UV stabilizers, [6] photopatterning, [7] opticalm emory devices, [8] fluorescencei maging, [9] white-light emitters, [10,11] and smarto pticalw riters. Upon excitation, thet wo tautomeric forms give rise to two broad peaks.…”