jp6b03304_si_001.pdf (1.07 MB)
Integrating Photonics with Luminescent Solar Concentrators: Optical Transport in the Presence of Photonic Mirrors
journal contribution
posted on 2016-05-24, 00:00 authored by Ryan Connell, Vivian E. FerryLuminescent solar
concentrators downshift and concentrate the incident
solar spectrum onto adjacent solar cells. In this paper we study the
combination of highly performing luminescent nanocrystals with photonic
structures to guide light to the edge of the concentrator. While one
approach is to use a wavelength-selective Bragg mirror to reduce escape
cone losses, we find that this also requires nearly perfect mirrors
and luminophore quantum yield. The key issue is that light is trapped
inside the concentrator in modes that inefficiently propagate toward
the edge, leading to luminophore reabsorption and losses to imperfect
mirrors. To overcome this difficulty, we use modeling to study the
use of meta-mirrors that shift propagating photons to larger angles,
minimizing interactions with the reabsorbing luminophores and mirrors.
We find that this design favors mirrors with small changes in angle,
separated from the luminophore–polymer layer by an air gap.
This research indicates that a combination of photonic structures
can be used with imperfect luminescent materials and mirrors to enable
high optical efficiency from luminescent concentrators.