Abstract
Sunlight strikes our planet every day with more energy than we consume in an entire year. Therefore, many researchers have explored ways to efficiently harvest and use sunlight energy for the activation of organic molecules. However, implementation of this energy source in the large-scale production of fine chemicals has been mostly neglected. The use of solar energy for chemical transformations suffers from potential drawbacks including scattering, reflections, cloud shading and poor matches between the solar emission and absorption characteristics of the photochemical reaction. In this account, we provide an overview of our efforts to overcome these issues through the development of Luminescent Solar Concentrator-based PhotoMicroreactors (LSC-PM). Such reactors can efficiently convert solar energy with a broad spectral distribution to concentrated and wavelength-shifted irradiation which matches the absorption maximum of the photocatalyst. Hence, the use of these conceptually new photomicroreactors provides an increased solar light harvesting capacity, enabling efficient solar-powered photochemistry.Graphical abstract
Highlights
[43] In this review, we provide an overview of our efforts to develop the concept of the Luminescent Solar Concentrator-PhotoMicroreactor (LSC-PM), which can harvest solar energy to promote lightdriven photochemical transformations
Because of the reaction channel placement within this device, the path followed by emitted photons is inherently short, which allows the microreactor to minimize reabsorption losses from which the photovoltaic Luminescent Solar Concentrators (LSCs) technology suffers when light travels over larger distances [54]
Based on this new configuration, three differently coloured Luminescent Solar Concentratorbased PhotoMicroreactors (LSC-PM) were designed, enabling the luminophores to be matched to diverse photocatalytic transformations spanning the entire visible spectrum
Summary
“The essential preliminary of all chemical changes by radiations is absorption.” This first law of photochemistry (Grotthuss–Draper law) formulated by both Draper and Grotthuss independently in the nineteenth century remains true to this day [1, 2]. Examples of non- or low-concentrating designs are flatbed reactors [35] and compound parabolic collectors [36, 37], whereas reactors, such as parabolic troughs [38, 39], parabolic dish solar concentrators [40] and solar furnaces [41, 42] are designed to focus and concentrate solar light to the reactor surface These concentrating designs excel in intensifying solar irradiation using mirrors and reflectors but suffer from other drawbacks: they generally require large collection areas, encounter overheating issues due to the increased solar intensity and require relatively clear weather conditions for operation due to the restricted use of only direct incident light. Technological advancements can contribute to the development of such a device, a possible solution lies within the field of material sciences, where Luminescent Solar Concentrators have been guiding light for more than 40 years [43] In this review, we provide an overview of our efforts to develop the concept of the Luminescent Solar Concentrator-PhotoMicroreactor (LSC-PM), which can harvest solar energy to promote lightdriven photochemical transformations
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