Fluorescent plastic waveguides for photovoltaic energy conversion

具有成本效益地获得可再生能源，特别是太阳能，对于维持全球经济增长，同时尽量减少对环境的负面影响至关重要。到达地球的太阳辐射约占世界能源需求的10,000倍，但我们的能源中只有0.001%来自太阳辐射。光伏（PV）器件可以方便地将太阳光通量的能量转化为电能。基于晶体硅（Si）和一些其他无机半导体的光伏器件具有优异的功率转换效率和无与伦比的稳定性；然而，它们非常昂贵，特别是对于大面积/高容量应用。基于聚合物半导体的有机光伏器件可以更便宜；然而，它们的效率要低得多，更重要的是，稳定性非常有限。在本提案中，我们提出了设计一种混合装置的方法，其中低成本的塑料太阳能波导聚光器从大面积收集辐射，并将光传输到高效率但小面积的PV装置（如晶体Si-PV）。该装置的工作原理是基于荧光染料如何吸收入射光子（无论入射角度如何），并优先将其重新发射到波导模式中，波导模式将其传送到塑料薄膜边缘的PV电池。虽然这个想法在几十年前就提出了，但直到去年才证明了这种聚光器（在固体玻璃支架上）的可行性。该项目将汇集染料化学和光物理学、光子波导和塑料光电子学方面的专业知识，以展示一种高效、廉价的太阳能聚光器

Cost-effective access to renewable energy sources, and in particular solar energy, is of critical importance for maintaining global economic growth, while minimizing negative environmental impacts. The solar radiation that reaches our planet account for ca. 10,000 X the world's energy needs, but only 0.001% of our energy is made from this source. Photovoltaic (PV) devices can conveniently convert energy of solar photon flux into electricity. PV devices based on crystalline silicon (Si) and some other inorganic semiconductors offer excellent power conversion efficiency and unsurpassed stability; however, they are very expensive, particularly for large area/high capacity applications. Organic PV devices, based on polymer semiconductors, can be less expensive; however, they show much lower efficiency and, more importantly, very limited stability. In this proposal we suggest ways to engineer a hybrid device in which low-cost plastic solar waveguide concentrators collects the radiation from a large area and transmit the light to a high efficiency but small area PV device (such as crystalline Si-PV). The device operation is based on how a fluorescent dye absorbs an incoming photon (regardless of the incident angle) and preferentially re-emits it into the waveguide modes, which deliver it to a PV cell at the edge of the plastic film. Although the idea has been postulated a few decades ago, only in the last year has the feasibility of such concentrators (on solid glass supports) been demonstrated. This project will bring together the expertise in dye chemistry and photophysics, photonic waveguides and plastic optoelectronics to demonstrate an efficient and inexpensive solar concentrator based on