1.26 - Luminescent Solar Concentrator

A luminescent solar concentrator consists of a waveguide collector and solar cells connected to the waveguide sides or bottom. Luminescent centers, such as organic dye molecules and nanoparticles absorb incoming photons and emit red-shifted photons that are mostly trapped inside the waveguide due to total internal reflection and finally coupled out into the solar cells, where they are converted into electricity. Typical designs lead to concentration of both direct and diffuse light. This chapter describes the theoretical principles of the luminescent solar concentrator and discusses factors that determine the overall device efficiency. Also, various choices for luminescent materials are detailed as well as various designs and experimental results. The future application area can be wide, ranging from greenhouses to building integrated photovoltaics, in which transparent energy-generating windows could contribute to energy neutrality of buildings.