Semi-transparent luminescent solar concentrators based on plasmon-enhanced carbon dots

Carbon dots (Cdots) are emerging as an eco-friendly alternative luminophore for luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) due to their environmental and economic friendliness, and simple synthesis using abundant carbon-based sources. However, their limited absorption and low photoluminescence (PL) hinder their large-scale applications in LSCs. In this work, we utilize plasmonic metal nanoparticles (NPs) to improve the optical absorption and emission of Cdots for enhancing the performance of LSCs. Due to their localized surface plasmon resonance peaks matching with the optical features of Cdots, silver (Ag) NPs with an average size of 40 nm (Ag40) were chosen. Silica shells with an optimized thickness were deposited on the surface of Ag NPs to prevent energy transfer from Cdots to the plasmonic NPs. Exploiting the ease of fabrication of liquid LSCs, a parametric study of the influence of Ag NPs on the LSC performance was conducted. Based on these results, thin film Cdot-based LSCs with optimized addition of Ag40@SiO2 were then fabricated, exhibiting an improvement of +25% in optical efficiency (OE) compared to the control devices. In summary, the intriguing plasmonic effect of Ag NPs/Cdot-based LSCs reported here can provide a useful platform for future studies on plasmon-enhanced LSCs.