Exploring the optical management and efficiency limit of luminescent solar concentrators based on advanced luminophores

Abstract

In the context of global warming, luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) hold great promise as solar windows. Over nearly five decades of development, various suitable luminophores for LSCs, including dye molecules, perovskites and quantum dots, have seen significant advancements. However, the commercialization of LSCs is still immature, and achieving a balance between large area (∼1 m²) and high efficiency in laboratory-reported LSCs remains challenging. Consequently, it is important to find more promising luminophores with small reabsorption and high photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY). In this work, we used Monte Carlo (MC) simulation and recognized calculation formulae to predict the LSCs efficiency of several advanced luminophores of our choice. According to our results, photon-multiplying (PM) LSCs, which include quantum-cutting (QC)-based luminophores and singlet-fission (SF)-based luminophores, hold a promising solution to overcome thermalization loss for high-energy photon excitation for coupled Si-PVs and reduce reabsorption loss. Under the condition of optimal PLQY, the external quantum efficiency of SF-LSCs is expected to exceed 18% even if the area of the LSCs reaches ∼1 m². Considering the thermodynamic concentration limit, PM-LSCs may be better suited for operation under weaker light conditions. We also proposed that tandem LSCs remain an effective approach to maximize efficiency. By employing SF-LSCs as the top layer and CuInSe₂/ZnS-based LSCs as the bottom layer, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of tandem LSCs can reach 11% for an LSC length of 10 cm and 9% for an LSC length of 100 cm under optimal PLQY. Based on the existing material systems, we predict the efficiency bottlenecks in LSCs and provide reliable theoretical support for their commercialization.