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Title: Quality Factor of Luminescent Solar Concentrators and Practical Concentration Limits Attainable with Semiconductor Quantum Dots

Abstract

In this study, luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) can be utilized as both large-area collectors of solar radiation supplementing traditional photovoltaic cells as well as semitransparent “solar windows” that provide a desired degree of shading and simultaneously serve as power-generation units. An important characteristic of an LSC is a concentration factor (C) that can be thought of as a coefficient of effective enlargement (or contraction) of the area of a solar cell when it is coupled to the LSC. Here we use analytical and numerical Monte Carlo modeling in addition to experimental studies of quantum-dot-based LSCs to analyze the factors that influence optical concentration in practical devices. Our theoretical model indicates that the maximum value of C achievable with a given fluorophore is directly linked to the LSC quality factor (QLSC) defined as the ratio of absorption coefficients at the wavelengths of incident and reemitted light. In fact, we demonstrate that the ultimate concentration limit (C0) realized in large-area devices scales linearly with the LSC quality factor and in the case of perfect emitters and devices without back reflectors is approximately equal to QLSC. To test the predictions of this model, we conduct experimental studies of LSCs based on visible-light emittingmore » II–VI core/shell quantum dots with two distinct LSC quality factors. We also investigate devices based on near-infrared emitting CuInSexS2–x quantum dots for which the large emission bandwidth allows us to assess the impact of varied QLSC on the concentration factor by simply varying the detection wavelength. In all cases, we find an excellent agreement between the model and the experimental observations, suggesting that the developed formalism can be utilized for express evaluation of prospective LSC performance based on the optical spectra of LSC fluorophores, which should facilitate future efforts on the development of high-performance devices based on quantum dots as well as other types of emitters.« less

Authors:
; ; ; ;  [1]
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  1. UbiQD, LLC, 134 East Gate Drive, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87544, United States
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Center for Advanced Solar Photophysics (CASP)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
OSTI Identifier:
1413787
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1340973
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-16-23207
Journal ID: ISSN 2330-4022
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC52-06NA25396
Resource Type:
Published Article
Journal Name:
ACS Photonics
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: ACS Photonics Journal Volume: 3 Journal Issue: 6; Journal ID: ISSN 2330-4022
Publisher:
American Chemical Society
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY; material science; concentration factor; LSC; LSC quality factor; luminescent solar concentrator; optical efficiency; quantum dot

Citation Formats

Klimov, Victor I., Baker, Thomas A., Lim, Jaehoon, Velizhanin, Kirill A., and McDaniel, Hunter. Quality Factor of Luminescent Solar Concentrators and Practical Concentration Limits Attainable with Semiconductor Quantum Dots. United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.1021/acsphotonics.6b00307.
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Klimov, Victor I., Baker, Thomas A., Lim, Jaehoon, Velizhanin, Kirill A., & McDaniel, Hunter. Quality Factor of Luminescent Solar Concentrators and Practical Concentration Limits Attainable with Semiconductor Quantum Dots. United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsphotonics.6b00307
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Klimov, Victor I., Baker, Thomas A., Lim, Jaehoon, Velizhanin, Kirill A., and McDaniel, Hunter. Mon . "Quality Factor of Luminescent Solar Concentrators and Practical Concentration Limits Attainable with Semiconductor Quantum Dots". United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsphotonics.6b00307.
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@article{osti_1413787,
title = {Quality Factor of Luminescent Solar Concentrators and Practical Concentration Limits Attainable with Semiconductor Quantum Dots},
author = {Klimov, Victor I. and Baker, Thomas A. and Lim, Jaehoon and Velizhanin, Kirill A. and McDaniel, Hunter},
abstractNote = {In this study, luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) can be utilized as both large-area collectors of solar radiation supplementing traditional photovoltaic cells as well as semitransparent “solar windows” that provide a desired degree of shading and simultaneously serve as power-generation units. An important characteristic of an LSC is a concentration factor (C) that can be thought of as a coefficient of effective enlargement (or contraction) of the area of a solar cell when it is coupled to the LSC. Here we use analytical and numerical Monte Carlo modeling in addition to experimental studies of quantum-dot-based LSCs to analyze the factors that influence optical concentration in practical devices. Our theoretical model indicates that the maximum value of C achievable with a given fluorophore is directly linked to the LSC quality factor (QLSC) defined as the ratio of absorption coefficients at the wavelengths of incident and reemitted light. In fact, we demonstrate that the ultimate concentration limit (C0) realized in large-area devices scales linearly with the LSC quality factor and in the case of perfect emitters and devices without back reflectors is approximately equal to QLSC. To test the predictions of this model, we conduct experimental studies of LSCs based on visible-light emitting II–VI core/shell quantum dots with two distinct LSC quality factors. We also investigate devices based on near-infrared emitting CuInSexS2–x quantum dots for which the large emission bandwidth allows us to assess the impact of varied QLSC on the concentration factor by simply varying the detection wavelength. In all cases, we find an excellent agreement between the model and the experimental observations, suggesting that the developed formalism can be utilized for express evaluation of prospective LSC performance based on the optical spectra of LSC fluorophores, which should facilitate future efforts on the development of high-performance devices based on quantum dots as well as other types of emitters.},
doi = {10.1021/acsphotonics.6b00307},
journal = {ACS Photonics},
number = 6,
volume = 3,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon May 09 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Mon May 09 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}
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Journal Article:
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Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1021/acsphotonics.6b00307
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Cited by: 120 works
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Figures / Tables:

Figure 1 Figure 1: Schematic depiction of LSC operation. (a) Incident light (blue arrows) with wavelength λ1 is absorbed by fluorophores (red circles) embedded into a transparent waveguide and reemitted at a longer wavelength λ2 (red arrows). Reemitted photons can be either trapped by total internal reflection and waveguided to PVs atmore » device edges (pathway 1) or lost due to nonradiative recombination following reabsorption (pathway 2) or “leakage” through the escape cone with the size defined by the angle of total internal reflection θr (pathway 3). (b) A fraction of incident flux (Φ1) impinging onto a front surface (area A1) is absorbed by LSC fluorophores, reemitted, and guided towards PV devices on the left (output flux Φ’2; area A’2) and the right (output flux Φ”2; area A”2) edges of the device. The geometric gain factor (G) is defined by the ratio of the ratio of A1 and A2 = A’2 + A”2. (c) A stepwise absorption profile (blue line) of an “ideal” LSC fluorophore characterized by a small absorption coefficient (α2) at longer wavelengths within the emission band (red shading) and a large absorption coefficient (α1 $\gg$ α2) at shorter wavelengths.« less
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Works referencing / citing this record:

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