Abstract
Luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) are considered promising photovoltaic (PV) devices to circumvent practical issues of applying conventional solar panels to the built environment. However, LSCs suffer from low power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) (typically <2% for devices of over 1 m2), despite numerous efforts having been made to develop novel luminescent materials and optical techniques. In this report, we proposed to utilize photothermal (PT) energy of the LSCs to further improve the PCE. We conducted a preliminary investigation on the PV and PT properties of an LSC with dimensions of 300 mm × 300 mm × 5 mm. The results showed that the PT power (27.05 W) was much higher than the PV power (2.12 W). Further analysis indicated that the PCE could reach 3.41% for a device of 1 m2.
Highlights
The transformation from conventional cities that are based on fossil energy to zerocarbon cities that are based on renewable energy requires the integration of power facilities that are capable of harvesting and producing energy with the built environment [1,2,3].Photovoltaic (PV) devices that convert solar energy directly to electrical energy play important roles in achieving this transformation [4,5,6,7]
One of the biggest advantages of using Luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) is that low-cost solar cells can be utilized with luminescent waveguides to achieve different architecture requirements
Before being attached to the edge of the luminescent waveguide, the solar cells exhibited short-circuit current (Isc) of 1.98 A, open-circuit voltage (Voc) of 0.62 V, and fill factor (FF) of 0.76, which led to maximum power (Pmax) of 0.93 W and power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of 15.5%
Summary
The transformation from conventional cities that are based on fossil energy to zerocarbon cities that are based on renewable energy requires the integration of power facilities that are capable of harvesting and producing energy with the built environment [1,2,3]. Conventional solar cells can be designed to different shapes and colors to meet the building architecture requirements, these designs are typically high cost. One of the biggest advantages of using LSCs is that low-cost solar cells can be utilized with luminescent waveguides to achieve different architecture requirements. A typical LSC consists of a luminescent waveguide with solar cells attached to the edge [16,17,18]. Optics 2021, 2 than the electrical energy produced by the solar cells that are not attached to the luminescent waveguide. TIR and TIR converted to luminescent photons, which transport to the edges of the luminescent waveguide through successive are delivered to solar cells. The PT energy can be potentially converted to electrical energy so that the PCE of LSCs can be further improved.
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