Abstract
Building-integrated photovoltaics is gaining consensus as a renewable energy technology for producing electricity at the point of use. Luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) could extend architectural integration to the urban environment by realizing electrode-less photovoltaic windows. Crucial for large-Area LSCs is the suppression of reabsorption losses, which requires emitters with negligible overlap between their absorption and emission spectra. Here, we demonstrate the use of indirect-bandgap semiconductor nanostructures such as highly emissive silicon quantum dots. Silicon is non-Toxic, low-cost and ultra-earth-Abundant, which avoids the limitations to the industrial scaling of quantum dots composed of low-Abundance elements. Suppressed reabsorption and scattering losses lead to nearly ideal LSCs with an optical efficiency of i • = 2.85%, matching state-of-The-Art semi-Transparent LSCs. Monte Carlo simulations indicate that optimized silicon quantum dot LSCs have a clear path to i • > 5% for 1â €..m 2 devices. We are finally able to realize flexible LSCs with performances comparable to those of flat concentrators, which opens the way to a new design freedom for building-integrated photovoltaics elements.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 177-185 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Nature Photonics |
Volume | 11 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Mar 1 2017 |