Luminescent Solar Concentrators: Solar Powered Windows
Some different size luminophores fluorescing upon exposure to UV light
My graduate research in materials focused on designing Luminescent Solar Concentrators for windows. These are solar power collecting devices that can act as Building-Integrated Photovoltaics so that window surface area can be used in addition to rooftop area to collect solar power. This is particularly advantageous with the prevalence of glass curtain walls and other glass facades on high-rise structures. These LSCs are often colorful, which sometimes is useful for vibrant architecture, but other times such as on residential windows, a neutrally-colored LSC is required. For these applications, I have designed mirrors to be implemented within the device to alter the transmitted light color spectrum, and to improve efficiency,
This schematic I created in Adobe Illustrator depicts the cross-section of a Luminescent Solar Concentrator (LSC). These devices collect sunlight and redirect it to solar panels located in the frame of the window. Light passes through the glass window pane, into the gap between the double-glazing. There mirrors filter the sunlight, and pass it on to Luminophores (see red star above), which are particles that emit photoluminescence when exposed to light. Specifically this LSC contains Quantum Dot luminophores (see red and gray sphere). The photoluminescence is then reflected along the waveguide (orange rectangle) using total internal reflection to travel to the solar cell located at the edge of the device. Because these devices can be transparent, they are particularly useful on windows for capturing solar energy.
This is a schematic I made of a solution-processing method using a wire-wound rod to coat a substrate. This is one way that the mirrors and luminophores can be coated onto glass substrates.
