Luminescent Solar Concentrators Based on Aggregation Induced Emission

A promising path to cost-effective photovoltaic (PV) systems is sunlight concentration. Over classical non-imaging geometrical concentrators, luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) possess several advantages: low cost and weight, elevated theoretical concentration factors and aptitude to efficiently working with diffuse light without tracking or cooling equipment. Although considerable progress has been made, current LSC-PV systems attain low power conversion efficiencies due to critical processes that hinder their ability to deliver light to PV cells including fluorescence quenching due to dye aggregation. To overcome this issue, fluorophores with aggregation induced emission (AIEgens) have been proposed thanks to their high Stokes shift and quantum yield in the solid state. In this review, the current state of knowledge concerning the preparation of LSCs based on AIEgens is summarized with special reference on the strategy adopted aimed at increasing the absorption bandwidth while maximizing the solar collection.