Metal nanoparticles based stack structured plasmonic luminescent solar concentrator

•A LSC using discrete sets of metal NPs and organic dyes, each contributing to enhanced excitation and emission rates in different spectral regions has been presented.•The control of dye concentration, NP size and dye-NP distance are critically important for the efficiency enhancement plasmonic LSC....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Solar energy 2017-10, Vol.155, p.934-941
Main Authors: Mateen, Fahad, Oh, Heemuk, Jung, Wansu, Binns, Micheal, Hong, Sung-Kyu
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Concentrators
Edge emission
Emission
Emission measurements
Emissions
Energy consumption
Energy harvesting
Gold
Luminescent solar concentrator
Luminophore
Metals
Nanoparticles
Photoelectric effect
Photoelectric emission
Power efficiency
Quenching
Silver
Solar energy
Stacked design
Surface plasmonic resonance
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Summary:•A LSC using discrete sets of metal NPs and organic dyes, each contributing to enhanced excitation and emission rates in different spectral regions has been presented.•The control of dye concentration, NP size and dye-NP distance are critically important for the efficiency enhancement plasmonic LSC.•Edge emission measurements show LSC containing 20nm Ag and Au NPs give the maximum total power efficiency which is almost 1.7 times more than that of LSC without NPs.•An alternative photocurrent measurement setup has been presented as a fast and effective way to evaluate the performance of luminescent solar concentrators. Harvesting solar energy through the use of luminescent solar concentrators is an attractive route to meet the world’s growing energy demands. In this study, we present an effective approach aimed at enhancing the edge emissions of luminescent solar concentrator based on stacking two waveguides, each containing a discrete set of metal nanoparticles (NPs) and organic luminophores. It is experimentally demonstrated that a stacked structured plasmonic luminescent solar concentrator (SPLSC) allows the light harvesting over a broad spectral range, while at the same time effectively exploits the plasmonic properties of silver and gold NPs leading to increased edge emissions. The results show a continuous transition from emission enhancement to quenching, depending on the luminophore-NPs distance (governed by NPs concentrations) in the SPLSC. Moreover, it is revealed that the NPs size also affects the edge emission of SPLSC. Edge emission measurements show SPLSC containing 20nm silver and gold NPs give the maximum power efficiency which is almost 1.7 times more than that of simple stacked LSC without NPs. Photocurrent measurements are also performed as an additional evidence for the improved performance of SPLSC samples.
ISSN:0038-092X
1471-1257
DOI:10.1016/j.solener.2017.07.037