Modelling and experimental analysis of the angular distribution of the emitted light from the edge of luminescent solar concentrators

• We measure and model the angular distribution of emission from the edge of LSC.
• We examine the influence on the LSC optical performance of mirrors and white scattering layers.
• The model describes well the results and identifies sources of non-ideal losses in the LSC.

Luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) have the potential to provide cheap solar electricity by significantly reducing the solar cell area. However, these devices are still at the research level and several aspects of their behaviour need investigation in order to improve efficiencies. Understanding how light is absorbed/emitted and concentrated to the edge of LSCs is required to design a high efficiency device as well as identifying and overcoming the various losses present. One strategy for investigating the photon absorption and transport in LSCs as well as pinpointing the sources of losses in these devices is to look at the luminescence escaping the LSC as a function of angle. This paper presents a new model that reveals the main features of the angular distribution of light escaping a LSC edge. We compare this model with experimental measurements and provide an assessment of non-ideal losses and identify which emission angles are affected most by these losses. We investigated experimentally the effects of the absorption profile of the chromophores and re-absorption on the photon flux travelling at different angles. The effect of back surface reflectors, commonly used to ‘recycle lost photons’, on the edge emission of LSCs has also been investigated in this work.

Experimental set-up for the measurement of the angular distribution escaping the Luminescent Solar Concentrator (LSC) edge as well as the angular resolved measurement of high dye concentration LSC compared to model.Figure optionsDownload high-quality image (164 K)Download as PowerPoint slide