Stable and Eco-Friendly Ag–In–S/Zn–S Quantum Dots for an Efficient and Optically Transparent Luminescent Solar Concentrator-Organic Solar Cell System

Abstract

Quantum dot (QD) based luminescent solar concentrator-organic solar cell (LSC-OSC) systems demonstrate significant potential in applications including building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) and indoor photovoltaics. In this study, eco-friendly Ag–In–S/Zn–S QDs with a high photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY = 73%) are synthesized using a simple hydrothermal method. The influence of Zn-S precursor reactivity on QD properties is studied. The synthesized QDs exhibit excellent stability over a wide temperature range (90–360 K). The Ag–In–S/Zn–S LSCs maintain over 90% of their initial PLQY after a two-month exposure to natural sunlight. Additionally, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the fabricated LSC-OSC system reaches 1.00% under near-actual condition (9 mW cm-2). Moreover, when the irradiation intensity is further decreased to be close to the indoor illumination intensity (0.4 mW cm-2), the LSC-OSC system shows a PCE as high as 5.27%, demonstrating that the LSC-OSC system can operate efficiently indoors. Notably, the fabricated LSCs have minimal impact on the incident sunlight spectrum, making them suitable for BIPV applications. Thus, this study is a first that is known to report the integration of eco-friendly QD-based LSCs with OSCs, which positively contributes to the advancement of BIPV and indoor photovoltaics.

Keywords: luminescent solar concentrator, organic solar cell, Ag-In-S/Zn-S quantum dot, luminescent material, stability