Luminescent solar concentrators and related methods of manufacturing

US11227964B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignees

• CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY · US
• The Regents of the University of California · US
• The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois · US

Inventors

• David R. Needell · Pasadena, US
• Noah Bronstein · Golden, US
• Armand P. Alivisatos · Berkeley, US
• Harry A. Atwater · South Pasadena, US
• Ralph G. Nuzzo · Champaign, US
• Haley Bauser · Pasadena, US
• Ognjen Ilic · Minneapolis, US
• Junwen He · Urbana, US
• Lu Xu · San Jose, US
• Colton Bukowsky · Pasadena, US
• Sunita Darbe · Pasadena, US
• Zach Nett · San Francisco, US
• Brent Koscher · Somerville, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Aug 27, 2018
• Grant date: Jan 18, 2022
• Expiry date: Sep 15, 2038

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y02E10/547

Abstract

Luminescent solar concentrators in accordance with various embodiments of the invention can be designed to minimize photon thermalization losses and incomplete light trapping using various components and techniques. Cadmium selenide core, cadmium sulfide shell (CdSe/CdS) quantum dot (“QD”) technology can be implemented in such devices to allow for near-unity QDs and sufficiently large Stokes shifts. Many embodiments of the invention include a luminescent solar concentrator that incorporates CdSe/CdS quantum dot luminophores. In further embodiments, anisotropic luminophore emission can be implemented through metasurface/plasmonic antenna coupling. In several embodiments, red-shifted luminophores are implemented. Additionally, top and bottom spectrally-selective filters, such as but not limited to selectively-reflective metasurface mirrors and polymeric stack filters, can be implemented to enhance the photon collection efficiency. In some embodiments, luminescent solar concentrator component is optically connected in tandem with a planar Si subcell, forming a micro-optical tandem luminescent solar concentrator.