SEES Fellows: Development of Luminescent Solar Collectors for spectral selective energy harvesting in agricultural and biofuel production

这个跨学科的项目旨在开发由透明发光太阳能聚光器（LSC）组成的太阳能窗户，以优化电力，化学和热能的利用效率。 LSC设计包括使用有机或量子点染料，这些染料以高效率和最小的自吸收太阳光谱，同时通过植物生长所需的波长。 将对LSC电池进行优化，并将其纳入小型温室结构中，以监测在户外测试条件下暴露一年期间的可靠性和发电量。 将评价LSC温室对各种天气条件、遮光和加速条件下20年寿命的稳健性。 将研究窗口集成LSC技术对植物生长和保水的影响。 另外，藻类对波长特定照明的响应研究将用于设计针对藻类生长优化的LSC，并将在藻类生长用于生物燃料生产的现场测试LSC的能量收集能力和藻类生长增强。 除了研究，该项目将建立？地球触角，？这是一个公共推广项目，让本科生和研究生参与到对初中和高中学生的环境可持续性教育中来。建筑一体化的光电池为太阳能发电装置提供了一个巨大的市场机会，因为建筑的成本可以用来抵消集成太阳能电池板的成本。 该项目的目标是通过研究和开发太阳能窗来加速光伏发电的部署，这些太阳能窗可以以有竞争力的成本生产能源，对户外天气和遮阳条件具有鲁棒性，并满足20年的加速寿命。 然后，可以定制该技术以满足农业，建筑集成和大型发电厂的需求。这将通过实现可再生能源发电与化石燃料发电的成本平价来减少碳排放，并提供一个有利于农业界的二氧化碳捕获技术平台。该项目得到了NSF科学，工程和教育可持续发展研究员（SEES研究员）计划的支持，其目标是帮助实现所需的发现，为导致环境，能源和社会可持续性的行动提供信息，同时创造必要的劳动力来应对这些挑战。 在SEES研究员的支持下，该项目将使一个有前途的早期职业研究人员能够在与可持续发展相关的独立研究生涯中建立自己的地位。

This interdisciplinary project seeks to develop solar windows consisting of semitransparent Luminescent Solar Concentrators (LSC) with optimized efficiency for the utilization of electrical, chemical and thermal solar energy. The LSC design includes the use of organic or quantum dot dyes that absorb the solar spectrum with high efficiency and minimal self-absorption while passing wavelengths needed for plant growth. Optimization of the LSC cells and incorporation into a small greenhouse structure will be performed in order to monitor reliability and power generation during one year of exposure in outdoor testing conditions. The robustness of the LSC greenhouse to a variety of weather conditions, shading, and 20-year lifetimes under accelerated conditions will be evaluated. The impact of the window-integrated LSC technology on plant growth and water retention will be studied. Separately, studies on algae response to wavelength specific lighting will be used to design an LSC optimized for algal growth, and that LSC will be tested for its energy harvesting capability and algae growth enhancement on site where algae is being grown for bio-fuel production. In addition to the research, this project will establish ?EarthReach,? a program of public outreach and engagement of undergraduate and graduate students in teaching junior high and high school students about environmental sustainability.Building-integrated photovoltaics offer a large market opportunity for solar power installations since the cost of the building can be used to offset the cost of the integrated solar panels. The goal of this project is to accelerate deployment of photovoltaics through the research and development of solar windows that can produce energy at a competitive cost, are robust to outdoor weather and shading conditions, and meet 20-year accelerated lifetimes. This technology can then be tailored to meet demands of agriculture, building integration, and larger scale power plants. This would reduce carbon emissions by achieving cost parity of renewable generated power with fossil fuel-based power and provide a technology platform for CO2 capture that benefits the agriculture community. This project is supported under the NSF Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability Fellows (SEES Fellows) program, with the goal of helping to enable discoveries needed to inform actions that lead to environmental, energy and societal sustainability while creating the necessary workforce to address these challenges. With SEES Fellows support, this project will enable a promising early career researcher to establish themselves in an independent research career related to sustainability.