Outdoor Characterization of a Plasmonic Luminescent Solar Concentrator

Arunima Sethi,Subhash Chandra,Sarah Mccormack,Anita Ortega

doi:10.1007/s11468-021-01562-y

Abstract

Plasmonic luminescent solar concentrators (PLSCs) have been shown to enhance the optical performance and power conversion efficiency of LSCs, due to added plasmonic gain in the medium. Despite the promising outlook of a PLSC through plasmonic coupling, device characterization and performance have not been verified in the real outdoor conditions, with varying direct and diffuse solar irradiation. In this work, characterization of a PLSC device of dimensions 4.5 \(\times\) 4.5 \(\times\) 0.3 cm3 embedded with Lumogen Red 305 dye and plasmonic gain medium of gold core silver shell nano cuboids was carried out in outdoor conditions of Dublin, Ireland. Optimized PLSC device power output at different solar insolation was compared to a reference photovoltaic (PV) cell and an optimized luminescent solar concentrator (LSC) device. The effect of the solar disc position, solar insolation, PV cell surface temperature, diurnal, and seasonal variation on the performance of the PLSC device is studied. The key observation was that PLSC average power conversion efficiency was 1.4 times more than the PV cell in cloudy and diffuse solar conditions. The PLSC device performed 45% better than a PV cell in December than July, as December has higher diffuse solar irradiation. Even though the PLSC device absorbs only 31% and transmits 69% incident solar irradiation in the concerned visible range of 380–750 nm. The preliminary outdoor characterization on a small-scale PLSC establishes its viability in a diffuse to direct solar radiation ratio throughout the year as well as establishing its benefits for integration in buildings.

Highlights

Luminescent Solar Concentrators (LSCs) were proposed in the late 1970s to generate low-cost solar electricity using an inexpensive static solar collector and intended for use in the built environment [1,2,3,4]
LSCs have technological advantage: i) solar concentration ratio not limited by acceptance angle it can collect both the direct and diffuse solar irradiation efficiently; ii) static nature thereby no need for an expensive tracking system, this reduces the complexity and cost of the system, and it is easy to install and integrate in buildings; iii) emission of the luminescent material can be tuned with band gap of photovoltaic cell reducing energy dissipation as heat and minimize the thermalization losses; iv) can be placed next to each other without the risk of shadowing their neighbors from the sun; v) Its color and transparency can be customized for aesthetical reasons, can be employed in façades, building envelopes, and windows of buildings [5,6]
The key observation from this work is that the Plasmonic Luminescent Solar Concentrators (PLSCs) device performed better than the bare PV cell in cloudy and diffuse light conditions

Summary

Introduction

Luminescent Solar Concentrators (LSCs) were proposed in the late 1970s to generate low-cost solar electricity using an inexpensive static solar collector and intended for use in the built environment [1,2,3,4]. LSCs have technological advantage: i) solar concentration ratio not limited by acceptance angle it can collect both the direct and diffuse solar irradiation efficiently; ii) static nature thereby no need for an expensive tracking system, this reduces the complexity and cost of the system, and it is easy to install and integrate in buildings; iii) emission of the luminescent material can be tuned with band gap of photovoltaic cell reducing energy dissipation as heat and minimize the thermalization losses; iv) can be placed next to each other without the risk of shadowing their neighbors from the sun; v) Its color and transparency can be customized for aesthetical reasons, can be employed in façades, building envelopes, and windows of buildings [5,6] These factors make them favorable for BIPV design, as well as retrofitting the conventional buildings with LSC, either through PV power or through daylighting [7]. The measurements allow the characterization of the PLSC device with reference to a PV cell and LSC device and the dependence of the electrical parameters on temperature, light intensity and solar disk position was studied

Methods

Results

Conclusion