N-doped carbon-dots for luminescent solar concentrators

Abstract

Luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) have been widely studied because of their potential importance in industry. A variety of luminescent materials have been developed and used for LSC fabrication such as organic dyes and semiconductor quantum dots. However, fabricating LSCs with a cost-effective method and environmentally friendly materials is a great challenge. Here, N-doped carbon-dots (N-CDs) are for the first time reported to be used as phosphors for LSC fabrication. The properties of N-CDs/PMMA thin film LSCs with various thicknesses are investigated. When the N-CDs/PMMA thin film thickness is 6.67 μm and only one side of LSCs is covered by photovoltaic cells, the performance of the LSCs is optimal, and the values of V_oc, J_sc, FF, η_opt and η can reach up to 0.46 V, 13.68 mA cm⁻², 62.89%, 4.75% and 3.94%, respectively. Moreover, the photostability of the LSCs is excellent. Results show that N-CDs are able to be effective luminophores for LSC fabrication. Our technique makes the industrial applications of LSCs more feasible since N-CDs have advantages such as high stability, low cost, low toxicity and high photoluminescence quantum yield.