Luminescent Solar Concentrators--a review of recent results.

Luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) generally consist of transparent polymer sheets doped with luminescent species. Incident sunlight is absorbed by the luminescent species and emitted with high quantum efficiency, such that emitted light is trapped in the sheet and travels to the edges where it can be collected by solar cells. LSCs offer potentially lower cost per Wp. This paper reviews results mainly obtained within the framework of the Full-spectrum project. Two modeling approaches are presented, i.e., a thermodynamic and a ray-trace one, as well as experimental results, with a focus on LSC stability.

Down shifting in poly(vinyl alcohol) gels doped with terbium complex.

Novel poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) based soft gels with luminescent properties are detailed in this contribution. Lanthanide complex of terbium ions with anthranilic acid, Tb(ant)3·2H2O, was synthesized and incorporated into a DMSO/water solution, followed by addition of PVA, to attain soft gels at room temperature. Morphological and thermal analyses revealed homogeneous distribution of Tb(ant)3·2H2O into the PVOH/DMSO/water gel, and that incorporation of the terbium complex does not alter the thermal properties of the gels. The gels are transparent and luminescent, as they exhibit Large Stokes shift down shifting (LSS DS) up to 400nm, with very high emission quantum yield, that was found to be function of Tb complex concentration.

Thermoreversible luminescent organogels doped with Eu(TTA)3phen complex.

This manuscript details the preparation and characterization of luminescent organogels in toluene. Gels were prepared by using 12-hydroxystearic acid (12HSA) as gelator and different amounts of thenoyltrifluoroacetonato 1,10-phenanthroline europium(III) complex (Eu(TTA)3phen). The gelation properties and the thermoreversible behavior from solid-like to liquid systems were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry. At higher concentration, an interaction of Eu complex with the polar group of the gelator was revealed by DSC and FTIR analyses. The spectroscopic behavior of the complex was investigated in toluene solution and in the gel state. TEM analysis revealed that 12HSA is able to solvate the Eu diketonate complex inducing a remarkable increase in the Eu-Eu distance. The Eu(TTA)3phen in the gel state exhibits a very high emission quantum yield, Φ, which was found to be independent of Eu complex concentration, at least for the composition range analyzed. These results indicate that 12HSA organogels containing Eu(TTA)3phen are promising materials for optical applications.