A Leaf-Inspired Luminescent Solar Concentrator for Energy-Efficient Continuous-Flow Photochemistry.

The use of solar light to promote chemical reactions holds significant potential with regard to sustainable energy solutions. While the number of visible light-induced transformations has increased significantly, the use of abundant solar light has been extremely limited. We report a leaf-inspired photomicroreactor that constitutes a merger between luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) and flow photochemistry to enable green and efficient reactions powered by solar irradiation. This device based on fluorescent dye-doped polydimethylsiloxane collects sunlight, focuses the energy to a narrow wavelength region, and then transports that energy to embedded microchannels where the flowing reactants are converted.

[1]  V. Hessel,et al.  A Mechanistic Investigation of the Visible-Light Photocatalytic Trifluoromethylation of Heterocycles Using CF3 I in Flow. , 2016, Chemistry.

[2]  Jason Riordon,et al.  Breathable waveguides for combined light and CO2 delivery to microalgae. , 2016, Bioresource technology.

[3]  A. Guy,et al.  A Mild and Efficient Procedure for Ring-Opening Reactions of Piperidine and Pyrrolidine Derivatives by Single Electron Transfer Photooxidation , 2000 .

[4]  Michael G. Debije,et al.  Dye-doped polysiloxane rubbers for luminescent solar concentrator systems , 2012 .

[5]  Michael G. Debije,et al.  Solar Energy Collectors with Tunable Transmission , 2010 .

[6]  Timothy D Heidel,et al.  High-Efficiency Organic Solar Concentrators for Photovoltaics , 2008, Science.

[7]  Peter Esser,et al.  The Photochemical Synthesis of Fine Chemicals with Sunlight , 1994 .

[8]  Ewan D. Dunlop,et al.  A luminescent solar concentrator with 7.1% power conversion efficiency , 2008 .

[9]  Tihana Mirkovic,et al.  Light Absorption and Energy Transfer in the Antenna Complexes of Photosynthetic Organisms. , 2017, Chemical reviews.

[10]  D. Bradley,et al.  Monolithically integrated dye-doped PDMS long-pass filters for disposable on-chip fluorescence detection. , 2006, Lab on a chip.

[11]  Danielle M. Schultz,et al.  Solar Synthesis: Prospects in Visible Light Photocatalysis , 2014, Science.

[12]  Juan C. Scaiano,et al.  Understanding the Kinetics and Spectroscopy of Photoredox Catalysis and Transition-Metal-Free Alternatives. , 2016, Accounts of chemical research.

[13]  Dong‐Pyo Kim,et al.  Polyvinylsilazane layer coating and its application in poly(dimethylsiloxane) microchip electrophoresis , 2013 .

[14]  M. Fagnoni,et al.  The sunny side of chemistry: green synthesis by solar light , 2009, Photochemical & photobiological sciences : Official journal of the European Photochemistry Association and the European Society for Photobiology.

[15]  P. Taberna,et al.  Single electron transfer photoinduced oxidation of piperidine and pyrrolidine derivatives to the corresponding lactams , 2000 .

[16]  M. Fayer,et al.  Luminescent solar concentrators and the reabsorption problem. , 1981, Applied optics.

[17]  Paul P. C. Verbunt,et al.  Thirty Years of Luminescent Solar Concentrator Research: Solar Energy for the Built Environment , 2012 .

[18]  Noah D Bronstein,et al.  Quantum Dot Luminescent Concentrator Cavity Exhibiting 30-fold Concentration , 2015 .

[19]  Davide Ravelli,et al.  Solar light-driven photocatalyzed alkylations. Chemistry on the window ledge. , 2009, Chemical communications.

[20]  Duoduo Bao,et al.  Print-and-Peel Fabrication for Microfluidics: What’s in it for Biomedical Applications? , 2009, Annals of Biomedical Engineering.

[21]  Dong‐Pyo Kim,et al.  Efficient photosensitized oxygenations in phase contact enhanced microreactors. , 2011, Lab on a chip.

[22]  Graham R Fleming,et al.  Lessons from nature about solar light harvesting. , 2011, Nature chemistry.

[23]  Ericka Stricklin-Parker,et al.  Ann , 2005 .

[24]  David A. Nicewicz,et al.  Organic Photoredox Catalysis. , 2016, Chemical reviews.

[25]  G. Ciamician,et al.  THE PHOTOCHEMISTRY OF THE FUTURE. , 1912, Science.

[26]  P. Esser,et al.  Die photochemische Synthese von Feinchemikalien mit Sonnenlicht , 1994 .

[27]  Volker Hessel,et al.  Applications of Continuous-Flow Photochemistry in Organic Synthesis, Material Science, and Water Treatment. , 2016, Chemical reviews.

[28]  Dohyung Kim,et al.  Künstliche Photosynthese für die Produktion von nachhaltigen Kraftstoffen und chemischen Produkten , 2015 .

[29]  M. Debije,et al.  Distribution of absorbed heat in luminescent solar concentrator lightguides and effect on temperatures of mounted photovoltaic cells , 2015 .

[30]  C. Brabec,et al.  Solar spectral conversion for improving the photosynthetic activity in algae reactors , 2013, Nature Communications.

[31]  Jun Lin,et al.  Rare earth ions doped phosphors for improving efficiencies of solar cells , 2013 .

[32]  M. Oelgemöller.  Solar Photochemical Synthesis: From the Beginnings of Organic Photochemistry to the Solar Manufacturing of Commodity Chemicals. , 2016, Chemical reviews.

[33]  B. Richards,et al.  Spectral conversion of light for enhanced microalgae growth rates and photosynthetic pigment production. , 2012, Bioresource technology.

[34]  Neil Robertson,et al.  Characterization and reduction of reabsorption losses in luminescent solar concentrators. , 2010, Applied optics.

[35]  P. Yang,et al.  Artificial photosynthesis for sustainable fuel and chemical production. , 2015, Angewandte Chemie.

[36]  J. Scaiano,et al.  Library of Cationic Organic Dyes for Visible-Light-Driven Photoredox Transformations , 2016, ACS omega.

[37]  Ioannis Papakonstantinou,et al.  Flexible and fluorophore-doped luminescent solar concentrators based on polydimethylsiloxane. , 2016, Optics letters.

[38]  J. Scaiano,et al.  Mechanistic insights and kinetic analysis for the oxidative hydroxylation of arylboronic acids by visible light photoredox catalysis: a metal-free alternative. , 2013, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[39]  J. Scaiano,et al.  Metal-Free Photocatalytic Radical Trifluoromethylation Utilizing Methylene Blue and Visible Light Irradiation , 2014 .

[40]  G. G. Stokes.  "J." , 1890, The New Yale Book of Quotations.

[41]  Wyatt Vine,et al.  Visible-Light Actinometry and Intermittent Illumination as Convenient Tools to Study Ru(bpy)3Cl2 Mediated Photoredox Transformations , 2015, Scientific Reports.

[42]  G. Whitesides,et al.  Poly(dimethylsiloxane) as a material for fabricating microfluidic devices. , 2002, Accounts of chemical research.

[43]  G. Wagenblast,et al.  New perylene and violanthrone dyestuffs for fluorescent collectors , 1989 .

[44]  Michael G. Debije,et al.  Direct versus indirect illumination of a prototype luminescent solar concentrator , 2015 .

[45]  D. MacMillan,et al.  Visible light photoredox catalysis with transition metal complexes: applications in organic synthesis. , 2013, Chemical reviews.

[46]  T. Fukuyama,et al.  Sunlight photocatalyzed regioselective β-alkylation and acylation of cyclopentanones , 2014 .

[47]  F. Dimroth,et al.  Increasing the efficiency of fluorescent concentrator systems , 2009 .

[48]  M. Debije,et al.  Monocrystalline silicon photovoltaic luminescent solar concentrator with 4.2% power conversion efficiency. , 2012, Optics letters.

[49]  N. Tada,et al.  Sequential Photo-oxidative [3 + 2] Cycloaddition/Oxidative Aromatization Reactions for the Synthesis of Pyrrolo[2,1-a]isoquinolines Using Molecular Oxygen as the Terminal Oxidant. , 2016, The Journal of organic chemistry.