The trade-off between optical efficiency and aesthetic properties of InP/ZnS quantum dots based luminescent solar concentrators

The luminescent solar concentrator (LSC) absorbs large areas of solar photons and directs the down-converted fluorescence into solar cells for power generation.Enabling LSCs to effectively utilize the solar spectrum while maintaining a high degree of aesthetics is the key to their future applications.Here, the InP/ZnS quantum dots (QDs) are dropped into off-stoichiometric thiol-ene (OSTE) polymers for the fabrication of the LSC device.The effect of doping concentrations on the trade-off between optical efficiency and aesthetic properties has been discussed.A sufficient concentration of QDs is required to utilize more solar energy.However, due to the high concentration of QDs in the LSC device, attentions need to be paid to the scattering effect that degrades the optical performance and induces the deterioration of aesthetic parameters.When the QD concentration is 1.6 x 10-2 mg/mL, LSC obtains the optimal optical efficiency of 2.7%.The excellent aesthetic parameters with the color rendering index (CRI) of 92.94 and the average visible transmittance (AVT) of 81.87% are maintained at the same time.We anticipate that this work sheds light on design optimization for achieving high optical effi-ciency LSC devices with excellent aesthetic parameters.

Automated summary

The luminescent solar concentrator (LSC) absorbs and converts solar photons into fluorescence, which is then directed into solar cells for power generation. The key to future applications of LSCs lies in effectively utilizing the solar spectrum while maintaining high aesthetics. In this study, the LSC device was fabricated by incorporating InP/ZnS quantum dots (QDs) into off-stoichiometric thiol-ene (OSTE) polymers. The trade-off between optical efficiency and aesthetic properties was discussed with varying QD doping concentrations.