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Gram-scale synthesis of carbon quantum dots with a large Stokes shift for the fabrication of eco-friendly and high-efficiency luminescent solar concentrators
State Key Laboratory of Bio-Fibers and Eco-Textiles, Qingdao University, No. 308 Ningxia Road, Qingdao 266071, P. R. China; College of Physics, University Industry Joint Center for Ocean Observation and Broadband Communication, Qingdao University, No. 308 Ningxia Road, Qingdao 266071, P. R. China.
College of Physics, University Industry Joint Center for Ocean Observation and Broadband Communication, Qingdao University, No. 308 Ningxia Road, Qingdao 266071, P. R. China.
Luleå University of Technology, Department of Engineering Sciences and Mathematics, Material Science.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-7475-6394
Dipartimento di Fisica & Dipartimento di Energia, Politecnico di Milano, via G. Ponzio 34/3 and IFN-CNR, piazza L. da Vinci 32, 20133 Milano, Italy.
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2021 (English)In: Energy & Environmental Science, ISSN 1754-5692, E-ISSN 1754-5706, Vol. 14, no 1, p. 396-406Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) are large-area sunlight collectors coupled to small area solar cells, for efficient solar-to-electricity conversion. The three key points for the successful market penetration of LSCs are: (i) removal of light losses due to reabsorption during light collection; (ii) high light-to-electrical power conversion efficiency of the final device; (iii) long-term stability of the LSC structure related to the stability of both the matrix and the luminophores. Among various types of fluorophores, carbon quantum dots (C-dots) offer a wide absorption spectrum, high quantum yield, non-toxicity, environmental friendliness, low-cost, and eco-friendly synthetic methods. However, they are characterized by a relatively small Stokes shift, compared to inorganic quantum dots, which limits the highest external optical efficiency that can be obtained for a large-area single-layer LSC (>100 cm2) based on C-dots below 2%. Herein, we report highly efficient large-area LSCs (100–225 cm2) based on colloidal C-dots synthesized via a space-confined vacuum-heating approach. This one batch reaction could produce Gram-scale C-dots with a high quantum yield (QY) (∼65%) using eco-friendly citric acid and urea as precursors. Thanks to their very narrow size distribution, the C-dots produced via the space-confined vacuum-heating approach had a large Stokes shift of 0.53 eV, 50% larger than C-dots synthesized via a standard solvothermal reaction using the same precursors with a similar absorption range. The large-area LSC (15 × 15 × 0.5 cm3) prepared by using polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) polymer as a matrix exhibited an external optical efficiency of 2.2% (under natural sun irradiation, 60 mW cm−2, uncharacterized spectrum). After coupling to silicon solar cells, the LSC exhibited a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 1.13% under natural sunlight illumination (20 mW cm−2, uncharacterized spectrum). These unprecedented results were obtained by completely suppressing the reabsorption losses during light collection, as proved by optical spectroscopy. These findings demonstrate the possibility of obtaining eco-friendly, high-efficiency, large-area LSCs through scalable production techniques, paving the way to the lab-to-fab transition of this kind of devices.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Royal Society of Chemistry, 2021. Vol. 14, no 1, p. 396-406
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Other Physics Topics
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Experimental Physics
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URN: urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-81657DOI: 10.1039/D0EE02235GISI: 000611850000018Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85100495565OAI: oai:DiVA.org:ltu-81657DiVA, id: diva2:1504220
Note

Validerad;2021;Nivå 2;2021-02-22 (johcin)

Available from: 2020-11-27 Created: 2020-11-27 Last updated: 2023-10-28Bibliographically approved

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You, ShujieVomiero, Alberto

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