Efficiency improvement by near infrared quantum dots for luminescent solar concentrators

Quantum dot (QD) luminescent solar concentrator (LSC) uses a sheet of highly transparent materials doped with luminescent QDs materials. Sunlight is absorbed by these quantum dots and emitted through down conversion process. The emitted light is trapped in the sheet and travels to the edges where it can be collected by photovoltaic solar cells. In this study, we investigate the performance of LSCs fabricated with near infrared QDs (lead sulfide) and compared with the performance of LSCs containing normal visible QDs (CdSe/ZnS), and LSCs containing organic dye (Rhodamine B). Effects of materials concentrations (related to re-absorption) on the power conversion efficiency are also analyzed. The results show that near infrared QDs LSCs can generate nearly twice as much as the output current from normal QDs and organic dye LSCs. This is due to their broad absorption spectra. If stability of QDs is further improved, the near infrared QDs will dramatically improve the efficiency of LSCs for solar energy conversion with lower cost per Wp.