Issue 1, 2023

Boosting efficiency of luminescent solar concentrators using ultra-bright carbon dots with large Stokes shift

Abstract

Luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) are able to collect sunlight from a large-area to generate electric power with a low cost, showing great potential in building-integrated photovoltaics. However, the low efficiency of large-area LSCs caused by the reabsorption losses is a critical issue that hampers their practical applications. In this work, we synthesized novel yellow emissive carbon dots (CDs) with a large Stokes shift of 193 nm, which exhibit nearly zero reabsorption. The quantum yield (QY) of the yellow emitting CDs is up to 61%. The yellow emitting CDs can be employed to fabricate high-performance large-area LSCs due to successful suppression of the reabsorption losses. The as-prepared LSCs are able to absorb 14% of the sunlight as the absorption of the CDs matches well with the sun's spectrum. The large-area LSC (10 × 10 cm2) with a laminated structure based on the yellow emitting CDs achieves an optical conversion efficiency (ηopt) of 4.56% and power conversion efficiency (ηPCE) of 4.1% under natural sunlight (45 mW cm−2), which are significantly higher than other previously reported works with similar sizes. Furthermore, the prepared high-performance LSCs show good stability. This method of synthesizing novel CDs for high-efficiency LSCs provides a useful platform for future study and practical application of LSCs.

Graphical abstract: Boosting efficiency of luminescent solar concentrators using ultra-bright carbon dots with large Stokes shift

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
01 Aug. 2022
Accepted
18 Okt. 2022
First published
19 Okt. 2022

Nanoscale Horiz., 2023,8, 83-94

Boosting efficiency of luminescent solar concentrators using ultra-bright carbon dots with large Stokes shift

J. Li, H. Zhao, X. Zhao and X. Gong, Nanoscale Horiz., 2023, 8, 83 DOI: 10.1039/D2NH00360K

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