Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
80472 | Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells | 2009 | 6 Pages |
The effect of adding white scattering layers to the bottom side of luminescent solar concentrator waveguides is evaluated. It is determined that adding a rear scatterer separated from the waveguide by an air gap results in a large increase of energy output from the waveguides, and this enhancement persists over long (>30 cm) distances, although the magnitude of the enhancement decreases with distance. An attached scatterer resulted in the greatest improvement of light output for short (∼6 cm) distances, but actually reduced edge emissions over longer distances. We provide estimates for the relative contribution of dye-emitted light and scattered light to the total waveguide emission, as well as distinguishing between the contributions of direct and indirect scattering of light to the total output as a function of dye content of the waveguides.