Initiation and recovery of damage initiated by UV irradiation in luminescent solar concentrators deposited in ambient conditions

Abstract

Photopolymerization of thin, dye-doped acrylate-based layers under ambient conditions often requires high concentrations of photoinitiators. The radical storm created during polymerization has been shown to cause damage to the embedded fluorescent dyes; some of this damage is repaired upon exposure to air, but a fraction of the damaged molecules do not repair. This work presents a more detailed optical study of the environmental effects, nature of the initiator, and resulting fluorescence of the dye molecules caused by photopolymerization, all factors necessary to understand and control to allow ambient inkjet printing of these luminescent species.