High-efficiency luminescent solar concentrators based on eco-friendly carbon Dots Fluorophores

Abstract

Nowadays environmental pollution deriving from energy production for human consumption has led to a huge demand for energy produced from renewable sources to reduce the human footprint on the environment. One of the most exploited renewable energy sources is solar light, which can be collected by photovoltaic (PV) cells to produce current. Most PV cells are made of silicon, which is not transparent to visible light. Consequently, silicon PV cells cannot be installed on windows of buildings, which confines the application of PV cells on roofs. A solution to this problem can be the installation of luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) on windows, LSCs allow most of the visible light to pass through while UV light is absorbed, transformed into visible light thanks to photoluminescence effect and guided toward a PV cell that can use it to produce energy. Carbon quantum dots (CDs) are a type of fluorophores that offer advantages such as a wide absorption spectrum, high quantum yield, non-toxicity, environmental friendliness, low cost, and eco-friendly synthesis methods. The synthesis method utilizes a facile hot plate approach to prepare CDs, which are then characterized using various techniques, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy, and photoluminescence spectroscopy and that were later coupled to a silicon PV cell to check their efficiency via I-V curve tests.