Determination of power conversion efficiency of CdTe QDs luminescent solar concentrators by analytic model and COMSOL photogeneration model

Luminescent nanomaterials such as cadmium telluride (CdTe) quantum dots (QDs) represent an attractive option as luminophores for the development of luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs). In the present study, green, yellow and red emitting CdTe QDs were synthesized, characterized and proposed as luminophore of LSCs. Based on an analytical model for the concentration factor, the CdTe QDs based LSCs were optimized as a function of their geometric factor as well as the “spectrally corrected” absorption coefficient for the different LSCs luminophores. Once the optimal concentration factor for each luminophore was obtained, a COMSOL photogeneration model was used to predict the total power conversion efficiency ( P CE tot ) of each prospective LSC. PCE tot of 1.35%, 1.46% and 1.69% were obtained employing the green, yellow and red emitting CdTe QDs as luminophore on 5×10 cm 2 planar LSCs with two perfectly reflective mirrors on the sidewalls and two COMSOL simulated silicon solar cells attached to the opposite sides.