A structurally modified perylene dye for efficient luminescent solar concentrators

A structurally modified perylene dye with broad absorption (300-550 nm), long-wavelength emission (550-650 nm), large Stokes shift (Delta lambda = 90 nm) and high photoluminescence quantum yield (Phi(f) = 0.95) has been synthesized for luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs). Its unique photophysical properties is attributed to the intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) characteristic within the molecule, which was investigated in solution and solid of the dye by spectroscopic measurements as well as theoretical calculations. The performance of LSCs with different device sizes and solar cell configurations was studied experimentally under outdoor real-time sunny condition. Specifically, a LSC with a geometric gain (G) of 5 exhibits high power conversion efficiency (eta(LSC)) of 2.81% +/- 0.06% and over unity concentration ratio (C) of 1.19 +/- 0.03 with high optical efficiency (P) of 23.7% +/- 0.5%. Cost-effectiveness analysis was performed on the LSCs implies that C could be as high as 13.85 (G = 200) and price per watt could be as low as $0.33/W (G = 103). (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.