Turning streetwear into solar power plants

Nanowerk  October 22, 2020
Luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) absorb diffusive light and increase the cost-effectiveness of solar cells; however, the compatibility with flexible photovoltaics and the energy transfer (ET) efficiency still require improvement. Researchers in Switzerland used amphiphilic polymer conetworks (APCNs) as polymer matrices for wearable LSCs owing to their flexibility and wearability. Furthermore, with the assistance of APCNs’ nanophase separated hydrophobic and hydrophilic domains, hydrophobic and hydrophilic luminescent materials were loaded in adjacent nanometer-separated domains. This resulted in high ET rates and broadened the acceptor’s absorption range, rendering a more efficient down conversion emission. The re-emitted photons indicated that the APCNs LSC vertically-tandem attached to the flexible photovoltaics can effectively increase the light absorbing area and be beneficial to the optimal utilization of incident light…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE

 

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