Indoor/outdoor light-harvesting by coupling low-cost organic solar cell with a luminescent solar concentrator

Abstract

The use of luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) is considered a promising solution for harvesting indoor and outdoor light energy. Despite a multitude of investigations of LSC based photovoltaic (PV) systems, few reports are available on LSCs for emerging PVs, such as third-generation PV technologies. To fill this gap, we develop a novel LSC based PV device by coupling an LSC with a low-cost organic solar cell. The LSC is fabricated by employing different concentrations of organic luminophores, while a polymer/fullerene-based photoactive layer is prepared for the organic PV (OPV) device. With proper spectral matching, our champion LSC-OPV device exhibits optical efficiency (eta(opt)) and power conversion efficiency (eta(PCE)) of 6.10% and 0.51% under light-emitting diode (LED) illumination, respectively. Further, performance evaluation under 1sun illumination implies the eta(opt) and eta(PCE) of 8.5% and 0.17%. We also perform the color analysis of LSC-OPV devices which shows that such devices are aesthetically feasible for use in indoor and outdoor conditions. Thus, this study highlights the substantial opportunity for the rational design of hybrid LSC-PV systems where third-generation PVs are viable prospects.