By making windows out of these lscs the glass that lets sunlight into our homes and offices could also generate the power we need.
Luminescent solar panel.
Retrofitted onto current solar panel systems luminescent solar concentrators could increase efficiency by 50 percent source.
The hope for the lsc is that cheap dyes or phosphors can make the system inexpensive as well as tolerant of defects or angle.
By far the most amazing aspect of the product though comes from the use of glass.
Luminescent solar concentrators lsc are a very simple concept.
The dye absorbs light and then fluoresces creating a glow that propagates by total internal reflection to the edge of the sheet where the light is absorbed by a narrow solar cell.
Solar cells mounted on the larger edge of the lsc convert energy captured from the sun into electric power.
The luminescent ingredients can be dialed in to absorb and re emit at selected wavelengths.
This is a promising technology because it allows a large collecting area of virtually transparent glass with a comparatively small area of expensive solar cells.
The lscs considered in this study are made of transparent plastic with a film of photoluminescent particles on the back similar to those used in leds.
These efficient modular solar units could easily be hung on the side of a building.
A luminescent solar concentrator lsc is made from plastic or glass with fluorescent materials or quantum dots in or on it.
This technology allows the seamless integration of photovoltaics and plastics.
With increased efficiency it ll also be able to generate more electricity per dollar than the solar panels you see on people s roofs now.
Polycarbonate panels like the ones that i use for parasol modular can be coated and filled with luminescent molecules that can absorb incident sunlight and re emit it at longer wavelengths.