Fluorescent Concentrators for Photovoltaic Applications

Emission of Rhodamine B in PMMA opals for luminescent solar concentrators

In conventional luminescent solar concentrators (LSC) incident light is absorbed by luminophores and emitted isotropically. Most of the emitted light is trapped inside the LSC by total internal reflection and guided to solar cells at the edges. Light emitted towards the surfaces, however, is lost in the escape cone. Furthermore, when the luminophore emits light in its absorption range, light is lost due to reabsorption. To overcome these losses, we embed the luminescent material in photonic structures to influence the emission characteristics. Directional and spectral redistribution of emission is supposed to enhance the light guiding in LSCs and reduce reabsorption losses. For this purpose…

Theoretical and experimental analysis of photonic structures for fluorescent concentrators with increased efficiencies

In this study we present a theoretical and experimental analy- sis of the application of photonic band stop filters on top of photovoltaic fluorescent concentrators in order to increase the photon collection efficiency. The light guiding effect of the fluorescent concentrator relies on total internal reflection. The escape cone of total internal reflection is their major loss mechanism. Our ray tracing simulation allows to calculate the beneficial effect of photonic band stop reflection filters, which reduce these losses, and to simulate the angular distribu- tion of the light trapped in the concentrator. We present simula- tions of the optical properties of 1D and 3D photonic structures an…