Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) doped with DCJTB for luminescent solar concentrator applications

Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) doped with various amounts of the organic-dye 4-(dicyanomethylene)-2-t-butyl-6-(1,1,7,7-tetramethyljulolidyl-9-enyl)-4H-pyran (DCJTB) for luminescent solar concentrator (LSC) applications have been studied. The maximum wavelength of the emission peaks increases from 555 to 561 nm as the doped amount of organic-dye DCJTB increases from 2.08 (sample L3) to 8.33 mg (sample L5), which reveals a slight red-shift effect. The difference between the maximum wavelengths of the absorption and emission spectra (λs) decreases from 58 to 47 nm as the doped amount of organic-dye DCJTB increases from 2.08 to 8.33 mg, which shows the Stokes shift. The short circuit photocurrent (Isc) increases from 11.68 to 14.11 mA/cm2 as the doped amount of organic-dye DCJTB increases from 0 (undoped, sample L0) to 8.33 mg. The optical efficiency (ηopt) also increases from 41.67% to 60.00% as the doped amount of organic-dye DCJTB increases. The maximum value of the incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency (IPCE) was about 9.0% at 526 nm when doped with 8.33 mg of organic-dye DCJTB (sample L5). The results of the present paper show through a well-conducted study on the optical properties of PMMA doped with organic-dye DCJTB that it can be suitable for LSC applications.