Role of refractive index in highly efficient laminated luminescent solar concentrators

As a large-area solar radiation collector, luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) can be used as power generation units in semitransparent solar windows, modernized agricultural greenhouses and building facades. However, the external optical efficiency and long-term stability of the LSCs limit their practical applications due to the sensitivity of the emitters to the light and environmental conditions. Here, we used the concept of “laminated glass” to prepare LSCs, which consist of two waveguide layers and the quantum dots (QDs)/polymer interlayer, and we tune the refractive index of the different parts of the system to improve the external optical efficiency and stability of the LSCs, simultaneously. The waveguide layer can be glass, quartz, polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and other transparent materials. The CdSe/CdS core/shell QDs were used as fluorophores to prepare the interlayer of the LSCs. The external optical efficiency of the laminated LSCs is associated with the refractive index of the three layers: the closer the refractive index, the higher the ηopt. The highest external optical efficiency of 3.4% has been achieved for the laminated PMMA/QDs-polymer/PMMA LSCs, which improved ~92% compared to the single-layered CdSe/CdS based LSCs. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest efficiency for the LSCs based on CdSe/CdS QDs. These results pave the way to realize high efficiency laminated windows as power generation units by suitably tuning the structure of the LSC, and provide the theoretical guidance for the LSCs utilized in building integrated photovoltaics.