Abstract
This study reports for the first time the use of waterborne polymers as host matrices for luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs). Notably, three types of waterborne polymer dispersions based either on acrylic acid esters and styrene (Polidisp® 7602), acrylic and methacrylic acid esters (Polidisp® 7788) or aliphatic polyester-based polyurethane (Tecfin P40) were selected as amorphous coatings over glass substrates. Water soluble Basic Yellow 40 (BY40) and Disperse Red 277 (DR277) were utilized as fluorophores and the derived thin polymer films (100 μm) were found homogeneous within the dye range of concentration investigated (0.3–2 wt.%). The optical efficiency determination (ηopt) evidenced LSCs performances close to those collected from benchmark polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) thin films and Lumogen Red F350 (LR) with the same experimental setup. Noteworthy, maximum ηopt of 9.5 ± 0.2 were recorded for the Polidisp® 7602 matrix containing BY40, thus definitely supporting the waterborne polymer matrices for the development of high performance and cost-effective LSCs.
Highlights
Luminescent solar concentrators (LSC) have been considered as one of the most effective solution to promote the diffusion of the photovoltaic (PV) systems in the urban environment
Typical LSCs are composed by high quantum yield organic or inorganic fluorophores that are embedded in optically transparent amorphous polymer plates or films with a good visible transparency and stability over time [15,16]
The performances were determined in terms of the optical efficiency (η) and discussed with those determined from PMMA-based LSC previously obtained with the same experimental setup [33,34]
Summary
Luminescent solar concentrators (LSC) have been considered as one of the most effective solution to promote the diffusion of the photovoltaic (PV) systems in the urban environment. BY40 finds applications in acrylic fibers and in daylight fluorescent pigments [30] and it was selected here thanks to its yellow/green fluorescence, water solubility and excellent compatibility in several media provided by the functional moieties connected to the conjugated central core [31] DR277 is commercially used for the coloration of polyester fabrics for high-visibility safety garments [31,32] and it was eventually tested in LSC as a water soluble molecule in order to validate the proposed approach by using a red-emitting fluorophore. All LSCs were obtained by casting the fluorophore-doped waterborne polymer dispersions over optically pure 50 × 50 × 3 mm glass by varying the type of the emitter and its concentration (wt.%), while maintaining constant the film thickness at 100 μm. The performances were determined in terms of the optical efficiency (η) and discussed with those determined from PMMA-based LSC previously obtained with the same experimental setup [33,34]
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