Abstract
A novel experimental method is presented to determine the optical efficiency and the loss channels of a luminescent solar concentrator (LSC). Despite strong promise, LSCs have not yet reached their full potential due to various mechanisms affecting the device's optical efficiency. Among those loss channels, escape cone and non-unity quantum yield losses are generally the most dominant. To further advance the field of LSCs, it is vital to understand the impact of each independently. So far, researchers have only characterized the total loss in LSCs. Here, an experimental method is proposed to separate the contribution from each individual loss channel. The experimental apparatus is the same as used for quantum yield measurements of fluorophores in solid samples. Therefore, the setup is commonly available to research groups already involved in LSC research. The accuracy of this method is demonstrated by comparing the experimental results with Monte-Carlo ray tracing. Our experimental method can have a strong impact on LSC research as it offers a means to unveil the loss channels of LSCs in addition to the optical efficiency.
Highlights
Luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) offer an encouraging means to include solar energy to the built environment; they concentrate sunlight without the need for expensive tracking equipment and their design makes them suitable as windows
LSCs are composed of a transparent matrix material, generally a slab of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), which is doped with fluorophores to absorb the incoming sunlight
While the wavelength band absorbed by the fluorophore can be determined with absorption measurements, it is less straightforward to experimentally investigate the extent to which escape cone and quantum yield losses degrade the performance of the LSC
Summary
Luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) offer an encouraging means to include solar energy to the built environment; they concentrate sunlight without the need for expensive tracking equipment and their design makes them suitable as windows. While the wavelength band absorbed by the fluorophore can be determined with absorption measurements, it is less straightforward to experimentally investigate the extent to which escape cone and quantum yield losses degrade the performance of the LSC. Side surface emissions can be measured using a fiber with a cosine corrector as a probe that is held against the respective side surface [14] None of these proposed methods reveal the fate of the lost photons; whether they are lost due to a non-unity quantum yield or escape cone losses. Previous methods are only able to determine the total loss which in some cases remains constant, e.g. when the reduction in escape cone losses and the change in non-unity quantum yield losses cancel each other out. Optical measurements are compared to Monte-Carlo ray tracing simulations which show very good agreement
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