Indoor/outdoor light-harvesting by coupling low-cost organic solar cell with a luminescent solar concentrator

Fahad Mateen, Muhammad Ahsan Saeed, Jae Won Shim, Sung Kyu Hong

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

36 Scopus citations

Abstract

The use of luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) is considered a promising solution for harvesting indoor and outdoor light energy. Despite a multitude of investigations of LSC based photovoltaic (PV) systems, few reports are available on LSCs for emerging PVs, such as third-generation PV technologies. To fill this gap, we develop a novel LSC based PV device by coupling an LSC with a low-cost organic solar cell. The LSC is fabricated by employing different concentrations of organic luminophores, while a polymer/fullerene-based photoactive layer is prepared for the organic PV (OPV) device. With proper spectral matching, our champion LSC-OPV device exhibits optical efficiency (ηopt) and power conversion efficiency (ηPCE) of 6.10% and 0.51% under light-emitting diode (LED) illumination, respectively. Further, performance evaluation under 1sun illumination implies the ηopt and ηPCE of 8.5% and 0.17%. We also perform the color analysis of LSC-OPV devices which shows that such devices are aesthetically feasible for use in indoor and outdoor conditions. Thus, this study highlights the substantial opportunity for the rational design of hybrid LSC-PV systems where third-generation PVs are viable prospects.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)379-387
Number of pages9
JournalSolar Energy
Volume207
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Sep 2020

Keywords

  • Aesthetics
  • Indoor and outdoor light harvesting
  • Luminescent solar concentrator
  • Organic photovoltaics

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