ARTICLE IN PRESS

Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells 93 (2009) 176–182

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Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/solmat

Increasing the efficiency of fluorescent concentrator systems

Jan Christoph Goldschmidt , Marius Peters, Armin Bösch, Henning Helmers, Frank Dimroth,
Stefan W. Glunz, Gerhard Willeke
Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, Heidenhofstr. 2, 79110 Freiburg, Germany

a r t i c l e in f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This study examines concepts for increasing the efficiency of fluorescent concentrator systems.
Received 8 July 2008 Different system sizes and configurations are investigated in detail by external quantum efficiency
Accepted 16 September 2008 measurements, light-beam-induced current maps and by I–V measurements. A photonic structure that
Available online 20 November 2008
serves as a bandstop reflection filter for light emitted from dyes in the fluorescent concentrator
Keywords: increases the system efficiency relatively by 20%. Such photonic structures are especially beneficial for
Solar concentrator larger systems. The combination of two fluorescent concentrators made with different dyes in one stack
Fluorescent concentrator increases the system efficiency from 5.1% with only one dye to 6.7% for the stack.
Luminescent concentrator & 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
III/V
Optics

1. Introduction 2. New approaches

Fluorescent concentrators are well known since the late
seventies [1,2] to concentrate both direct and diffuse radiation
without tracking systems. In a fluorescent concentrator, dye
molecules in a matrix absorb radiation and emit light with a
longer wavelength. Most of the emitted light is internally totally
reflected and therefore trapped and guided to the edges of the
concentrator, where solar cells convert it into electricity. This
concept was investigated intensively in the early 1980s [3,4].
Research in those days aimed at cost saving by replacing
expensive solar cells with cheap fluorescent material. However,
several problems led to reduced research interest. First, the used
organic dyes had only relatively narrow absorption bands. Second,
although the organic dyes showed high quantum efficiencies,
defined as the ratio between absorbed and emitted photons,
above 95% in the visible range of the spectrum, quantum
efficiencies remained at 50% and lower in the infrared because
of fundamental physical reasons. Furthermore, the dyes that were
sensitive in the infrared were unstable under long-term illumina-
tion. Reabsorption of emitted light due to overlapping absorption
and emission spectra further reduced efficiencies [3]. A funda-
mental problem was the escape cone of the internal reflection,
which caused losses of at least 26%. Finally, efficient solar cells
whose spectral response matched the emission spectra of dyes
were hardly available.
After 20 years of progress in the development of solar cells,
fluorescent dyes and with new concepts, several groups, e.g. those
of Refs. [5–14], are currently reinvestigating the potential of
fluorescent concentrators. In our group an advanced design as
shown in Fig. 1 [7] is under development. The key features of this
advanced system design are a stack of different fluorescent
concentrators to use a broad spectral range, and spectrally
matched solar cells and photonic structures, which increase
the fraction of light guided to the edges of the concentrator. The
application of photonic structures in the context of fluorescent
concentrators was first proposed in Ref. [9]. The photonic
structure acts as a bandstop reflection filter. It allows light in
the absorption range of the dyes to enter the collectors, but
reflects light in the emission range. Therefore it reduces escape
cone losses and a larger amount of light is trapped in the collector
and guided to the solar cells at the rims. Additionally we take
advantage of the availability of solar cells made from materials
with different bandgaps. With a stack of fluorescent concentra-
tors, each with a different dye, different parts of the solar
spectrum can be converted by the matched solar cells at the
rims. Thus a broad spectrum of light can be utilized with high
efficiencies in principle. The stack design with the matched solar
cells at the rims provides a high degree of freedom for cell
interconnection, so there is no forced series connection. This is a
clear advantage over tandem cell concepts with the need for
tunnel diodes and current limitation problems.

3. Combination of different materials for increased efficiency

 Corresponding author. Tel.: +49 761 4588 5475; fax: +49 761 4588 9250. Several parameters determine the ability of the fluorescent
E-mail address: jan.christoph.goldschmidt@ise.fhg.de (J.C. Goldschmidt). concentrator to guide light to its rims, such as the quantum

0927-0248/$ - see front matter & 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.solmat.2008.09.048
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
J.C. Goldschmidt et al. / Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells 93 (2009) 176–182
Fig. 1. An advanced fluorescent concentrator system design. In a fluorescent
concentrator, dye molecules absorb incoming radiation and emit radiation with a
longer wavelength. Total internal reflection traps part of the light, which is guided
to the solar cells at the edges of the concentrator. The full spectrum can be used
with a stack of fluorescent collectors with different dyes. The stack configuration
allows for ‘‘recycling’’ of emitted photons that are lost in one collector but can be
absorbed in another one. The escape cone of total internal reflection is a principal
efficiency-limiting problem. At least 26% of the light is lost. A photonic structure
helps to minimise these losses. The photonic structure acts as a bandstop
reflection filter. It allows light in the absorption range of the dyes to enter the
collector, but reflects light in the emission range. Therefore a larger amount of light
is trapped in the collector and guided to the solar cells at the edges.
efficiency of dyes, optical properties of the matrix material,
surface quality and geometrical dimensions of the collector plate.
Hence, measurements of absorption spectra and photolumines-
cence alone are not sufficient to assess this ability. External
quantum efficiency (EQE) measurements of a system consisting of
a fluorescent collector with a solar cell attached to one of its rims
give information about the fraction of light guided to the rims of
the collector, if the EQE of the used solar cell is known. However,
the obtained results are sensitive to the optical coupling of solar
cell and fluorescent concentrator. Moreover, this method is quite
laborious and therefore not very well suited to test a wide range
of materials.
Consequently, we developed a method to assess the light-
guiding ability with three optical measurements using a photo-
spectrometer and an integrating sphere [7]. Initially, transmission
T and reflection R measurements are performed with an integrat-
ing sphere. As the sample is outside the integrating sphere during
those measurements, light that leaves the fluorescent concen-
trator at the rims is not detected. The third measurement is
performed with the sample mounted in the centre of the
integrating sphere. This measurement yields one minus the total
absorption Abs of the sample. From this the fraction of light that is
guided to the rims, ZS, can be calculated as
ZS ¼ ð1  AbsÞ  T  R (1)
Please note that under these conditions the usual equation
Abs+T+R ¼ 1 is not valid. Fig. 2 shows a representative set
of measurements. These data were used to select promising
materials, from which we built systems of fluorescent concen-
trators with attached solar cells. We also realized systems with a
stack of two fluorescent concentrators with two different dyes.
We used old materials based on organic dyes in a PMMA matrix,
which were produced during the first research campaign in the
1980s [3]. Up to now, no new material, such as luminescent
quantum dots, has been developed that shows as high quantum
efficiencies in the visible spectral range as organic dyes. Because
of the stability of the dyes these samples were fully sufficient
to test the system configurations and the effect of the photonic
structures. Anyway, new materials can be incorporated into our
concepts without any problems. The fluorescent concentrators in
177
80 BA241LB21
BA241LB19
70 BA812LB2
BA856LB1
BA654LB1
60
50
ηs [%]
40
30
20
10
0
300 400 500 600
Wavelength [nm]
Fig. 2. From a set of a optical measurements the spectral collection efficiency Zs,
which is the fraction of light that is guided to the rims, can be calculated. The
figure shows the result for a representative set of materials.
this experiment had geometric dimensions of 2  2 cm2 and were
3 mm thick.
The solar cells attached to the edges of the fluorescent
concentrator were made from GaInP and had a bandgap of around
1.85 eV (670 nm), which can be seen from the EQE measurement
shown in Fig. 5. The geometric dimensions of the solar cells fitted
with the edges of the concentrators. The active area of the solar
cells had heights of 3 and 6 mm and a width of 21 mm. They were
equipped with a single-layer antireflection coating of 65 nm
Ta2O5, which is optimized for the emission range of the dyes
between 550 and 650 nm. The solar cells were then bonded to a
copper base to give mechanical stability. All the used solar cells
with 3 mm height had efficiencies of 14.470.1% under an AM1.5g
spectrum and the solar cells for the stacks with 6 mm height had
efficiencies of 15.470.1% to make the system measurements
comparable. The given accuracy reflects the efficiency distribution
of the cells and not the absolute uncertainty. The intensity of the
used sun simulator was calibrated with a reference solar cell to
1000 W/m2. No further mismatch correction has been applied,
because the EQE of the fluorescent concentrator system is
spatially not constant, as we will see later on. The solar cells
were attached to the edges of the fluorescent concentrators with
an acrylic colour extender. It has nearly the same refractive index
as that of PMMA and therefore provides a good optical coupling
of solar cell and fluorescent concentrator. Under all systems
we placed white bottom reflectors made from BaSO4-coated
aluminium.
Fig. 3 displays the efficiencies of several realized systems. Only
one edge of each fluorescent concentrator solar cell was attached
and the other edges were left open. The surroundings of the
systems were covered with a black mask so that no light could
enter the fluorescent concentrators from the side. The purpose of
this experiment was to compare different materials, so the system
was not to be optimized for the highest efficiency, e.g. with
mirrors at the edges or by attaching solar cells to all four edges.
The material denoted BA241 showed the highest efficiency of 2.5%
with reference to the 4 cm2 area of the concentrator. The
combination with a second material denoted BA856 increased
the efficiency to 3%.
From this stack a system with four solar cells, one at each edge,
was built. The single solar cell had a height of 6 mm, so every solar
cell received light from both concentrators. The four solar cells
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178 J.C. Goldschmidt et al. / Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells 93 (2009) 176–182
4.0
3.0
η [%]
2.0
1.0
0.0
BA241 BA812 BA856 BA241 BA241
and and
BA812 BA856
Fig. 3. Materials identified as promising by optical measurements were used to
realize systems of fluorescent concentrators and solar cells. The shown efficiencies
are for 2  2 cm2 fluorescent concentrators 3 mm thick. GaInP solar cells, with a
bandgap at around 670 nm (1.85 eV) were attached to one side of the concentrators
and the stacks. White bottom reflectors were placed under all systems. The
material denoted BA241 showed the highest efficiency of 2.5% with reference to
4 cm2 area of the concentrator. The combination with a second material increased
the efficiency to 3%. From this stack a system with four solar cells, one at each edge,
was built. This system had an efficiency of 6.7%.
Fig. 4. A photograph of the described stack system before the remaining three
solar cells were attached.
were interconnected in parallel. This system had an efficiency of
6.7%, which is the highest reported value for a fluorescent
concentrator stack system. A similar system with only one
concentrator made from BA241 with four parallel interconnected
GaInP solar cells had an efficiency of 5.1%. However, it is important
to mention that with 4 cm2 these systems are comparatively
small. Therefore the concentration ratio, that is the ratio between
the illuminated area and the solar cell area, is also very small. It is
1.7  for the single-fluorescent-concentrator system and 0.8  for
the stack system. Fig. 4 shows a photograph of that stack system
before the four solar cells were attached. Fig. 5 presents the EQE
of one used GaInP solar cell, the described stack system with
a combination of two materials and the system with only one
fluorescent concentrator. Again under both systems a white
bottom reflector was placed. The EQE shows how combining
two materials extends the used spectral range. From the quantum
efficiency measurement it is obvious that in the active region of
the dyes the systems reach already quite high quantum efficien-
cies of 45%. The voltage of the system at the maximum power
80
BA241
70 Stack of BA241
and BA856
60 GaInP solar
cell alone
50
EQE [%]
40
30
20
10
0
300 400 500 600 700
Wavelength [nm]
Fig. 5. The external quantum efficiencies of single GaInP solar cell, a system with
only one fluorescent concentrator (BA241) and of a stack system with two
materials, both with four parallel interconnected GaInP solar cells attached to the
edges. The combination of the two materials significantly extends the used
spectral range.
point was 132071 mV. In consequence the main reason for the
low overall efficiency below 10% is that only the visible part of the
spectrum is used. If one reached a 45% quantum efficiency also in
the range 650–1050 nm, one could expect an extra current density
of around 12 mA/cm2. When the luminescent material emits in
the region between 1050 and 1125 nm, the emitted light could
be used by a silicon solar cell, which reaches a maximum
power point voltage of around 580 mV. The extra silicon solar
cell fluorescent concentrator system then had an efficiency
of nearly 7%, which would result in an overall system efficiency
of above 13.5%.
So it is promising to extend the efficiently usable spectral range
into the infrared, which means that efforts should be undertaken
to develop materials that show highly efficient luminescence in
the infrared. However, the collection efficiency can be increased
further also in the active region of the dyes, as we will show in the
next section.
4. Photonic structures for increased efficiencies
The escape cone of internal total reflection is the major loss
mechanism of fluorescent concentrators. The light that is emitted
by the dyes and impinges on the internal surface with an angle
greater than the critical angle ac is totally internally reflected,
with sin(ac) ¼ 1/n and n the refractive index of the matrix
material (Fig. 6). The light that impinges at smaller angles leaves
the collector and is therefore lost. Integration gives a fraction
F ¼ ð1  n2 Þ1=2 (2)
that is trapped in the collector [15]. For PMMA with n ¼ 1.5 this
results in a trapped fraction of around 74%. The loss of around 26%
occurs after every reabsorption and reemission process, so in fact
losses due to the loss cone of internal reflection are considerably
higher than 26%, especially for large collector sizes. Therefore a
photonic structure that acts as a bandstop reflection filter, which
reflects all light in the emission range of the dye but has high
transmission in the absorption range of the dye, should sig-
nificantly increase the collection efficiency of the concentrators
[9]. The working principle of the photonic structure is illustrated
in Fig. 7.
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J.C. Goldschmidt et al. / Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells 93 (2009) 176–182 179

100 Absorption Fluko

PL Emission Fluko
Reflection Filter
80

60

[%]
40

20
Fig. 6. Illustration of the escape cone of total internal reflection. The escape cone is
the major loss mechanism of a fluorescent concentrator. Light impinging onto the
surface with an angle smaller than the critical angle ac is not totally internally 0
reflected but is lost. For PMMA about 26% of light is lost after every emission 350 400 450 500 550 600 650 700 750
process. Because there is reabsorption and reemission, total losses due to the Wavelength [nm]
escape cone are considerably higher than 26%.
Fig. 8. Reflection spectrum of the used photonic structure and the absorption and
photoluminescence of the fluorescent concentrator the filter was designed for. The
reflection of the structure very nicely fits the emission peak of the dye in the
concentrator.

20 BA241, white bottom 100

reflector
with Filter
without Filter 80
15 on top

Reflection [%]
EQE [%]

60
10
40

Fig. 7. A photonic structure reduces the losses due to the escape cone of the total
internal reflection. The photonic structure acts as a bandstop reflection filter. It
allows light in the absorption range of the dyes to enter the collectors, but reflects
light in the emission range. Therefore a larger amount of light is trapped in the
collector and guided to the solar cells at the edges.
A possible realization of such a photonic structure is the so-
called Rugate filter. It features a continuously varying refractive
index profile in contrast to the discrete structure of normal Bragg
reflectors. This results in the suppression of side loops, which
cause unwanted reflection and loss of usable radiation. In this
study we used commercially available filters (5  5 cm2) from
mso-Jena optimized for the BA241 material. The filters had an
antireflection coating optimized for the absorption range of the
dye. The reflection of the filter, the absorption and the photo-
luminescence of the BA241 fluorescent concentrator are shown in
Fig. 8. The filter transmits light in the absorption range of the dye
and it reflects the emitted light and therefore has exactly the
desired properties.
To investigate how the filter increases the light-guiding
efficiency of concentrators we attached a 21  3 mm2 GaInP solar
cell on one rim of a 3 mm thick fluorescent concentrator, with a
size of 2  6 cm2 (the cell was attached to the 2 cm rim). We
placed a white BaSO4 bottom reflector under the system and
measured the EQE of the system, with and without the filter on
the top of the fluorescent concentrator. The system was illumi-
nated with a spot at 1 cm distance to the solar cell. Fig. 9 shows
the comparison of the two measurements and additionally the
reflection of the filter. Obviously the filter reduces efficiency in the
region where it is reflective, which is the case for the wanted
reflection above 550 nm and also for the unwanted reflection
below 380 nm. On the other hand the filter increases efficiency
5
Reflection Filter 20
0 0
350 400 450 500 550 600
Wavelength [nm]
Fig. 9. External quantum efficiency (EQE) measurement of a system with a
fluorescent concentrator of 3 mm thickness made from BA241 and a BaSO4 bottom
reflector with and without a photonic structure on the top of the concentrator.
Additionally the reflection of the photonic structure is shown. Obviously the
structure reduces the efficiency in the region where it is reflective, which is the
case for the wanted reflection above 550 nm and also for the unwanted reflection
below 380 nm. On the other hand the efficiency is increased significantly over a
broad spectral range, because more emitted light is trapped and guided to the
sides.
significantly over a broad spectral range, because it traps the
emitted light and guides the light to the sides.
We also realized a system with a 5 mm thick, 5  10 cm2 big
fluorescent concentrator to which we optically coupled one GaInP
solar cell with silicone. The solar cell had an active area of
5  49 mm2. Hence the relation between illuminated fluorescent
concentrator area and solar cell area constitutes a geometric
concentration ratio of 20  . The solar cell had an efficiency
of 16.7% under AM1.5g illumination. White Teflon served as the
bottom reflector and also as reflector at the edges, which were not
covered by solar cells. Without the filter this system had an
efficiency of 2.670.1% (uncertainty is again for relative compar-
ison) with reference to the 50 cm2 area of the system. The filter
increased the efficiency to 3.170.1%, which constitutes a relative
efficiency increase of around 20%. With the achieved efficiency
of 3.1% and concentration ratio of 20, the realized fluorescent
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180 J.C. Goldschmidt et al. / Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells 93 (2009) 176–182

concentrator produces about 3.7 times more energy than that of 1380
the GaInP solar cell produced on its own. 2.4
Jsc
1370
4.1. How the size influences collection efficiency 2.2
1360

Jsc [mA/cm2]
To investigate the effect of size of the fluorescent concentrator, 2.0

Voc [mV]
Voc
we used the system described in the previous section with the 1350
2  6 cm2 fluorescent concentrator. A white BaSO4 reflector was 1.8
placed beneath the concentrator. The illuminated area was then 1340
reduced stepwise with the help of black blinds, placed on the 1.6
fluorescent concentrator (Fig. 10) and an I–V measurement 1330
performed for each area size. Fig. 11 displays the open-circuit 1.4
voltage VOC and the short-circuit current density JSC. The JSC was 1320
calculated with respect to the particular illuminated area of the
2 4 6 8 10 12
fluorescent concentrator. The voltage increases with increasing
size since more light reaches the collector and the total current Fluko area [cm2]
increases. However, the short-circuit current density decreases Fig. 11. Open-circuit voltage VOC and short-circuit current JSC of a fluorescent
with increasing area. This means that the probability of a photon concentrator system depending on the illuminated area. The fluorescent
to reach the solar cell at the edge is much lower if it is absorbed concentrator was 3 mm thick, and had a size of 2  6 cm2 and a white bottom
and emitted further away from the solar cell. The reason is that reflector. The illuminated area was reduced in 1 cm steps with blends. JSC was
calculated with respect to the illuminated area of the fluorescent concentrator. The
parasitic absorption, reabsorption and emission events and the
voltage increases with increasing size because more light reaches the collector and
associated escape cone losses become more likely to happen with the total current increases. The current density drops because the probability to
increasing path length of the photon. reach the solar cell at the edge decreases for photons, which stem from absorption/
Fig. 12 shows the dependence of the overall system efficiency emission processes further away from the solar cell.
from the illuminated area. Additionally, we repeated the experi-
ment with a black material and with a photonic structure under
the fluorescent concentrator and with and without a photonic 3.0
structure on the top. The efficiency drops in all cases with black bottom
2.8
increasing area, because the relative effect of the voltage increase white bottom
is smaller than the relative decrease of the current density. This is 2.6 white bottom and
understandable as the voltage increases only logarithmically with photonic top
current, while the losses should follow some kind of exponential 2.4
dependence on the average path length, which increases linearly photonic bottom
2.2
η [%]

with area in our configuration. However, the effect of decreasing

photonic bottom
efficiency is slightly exaggerated. In an optimized fluorescent
concentrator system one would chose more quadratic geometric
2.0 and top
dimensions and would place solar cells on all edges of the 1.8
concentrator. This would reduce the average path length of light
and therefore decrease the path-length-associated losses. 1.6
The differences between the different bottom and top config-
urations are also very enlightening. For all sizes, the efficiencies 1.4
are the lowest for the case where there is a black bottom material.
1.2
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Fluko area [cm2]

Fig. 12. This figure displays the efficiency of the same system described in Fig. 11.
Again, the illuminated area was reduced stepwise with blends. Additionally,
different bottom reflectors were placed under the system and efficiencies were
also measured with and without a photonic structure on the top. For all systems,
efficiency decreases with increasing illuminated area. For these small sizes, a white
bottom reflector yields the highest efficiencies. However, the decrease in efficiency
for larger systems is dampened by a photonic structure on the top.

With a black bottom, all light that passes the fluorescent

Fig. 10. Sketch of the measurement setup for investigation of size effects. The
illuminated area was reduced in 1 cm steps with the help of black blinds, placed on
the fluorescent concentrator. The area was reduced starting from the side opposite
to the solar cell. An I–V measurement was performed for each area size.
concentrator or leaves it in the bottom direction after emission
is absorbed and lost. In contrast the photonic structure reflects in
the emission range of the dye. If it is placed under the
concentrator it increases the efficiency, because it reflects emitted
light back into the concentrator. It is important to note that all the
light entering the concentrator from the outside is refracted in a
way such that it would leave the concentrator already after one
pass to the opposite surface. So to stay in the concentrator or to
become useful it has to be reabsorbed, scattered or absorbed by a
solar cell.
Adding a photonic structure on the top of the concentrator
does not increase the efficiency for the investigated sizes, but
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J.C. Goldschmidt et al. / Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells 93 (2009) 176–182 181

50 25

Distance to solarcell
2cm
40 20 1cm
0.5cm
BA241 0.25cm
30 15
EQE [%]

White bottom

EQE [%]
Black bottom

20 10

10
5

0
300 400 500 600 700 0
300 400 500 600 700 800
Wavelength [nm]
Wavelength [nm]
Fig. 13. Comparison between an EQE measurement with a white bottom reflector
and with a black bottom for a system with a 2  2 cm2 fluorescent concentrator Fig. 14. EQE measurements of the 2  6 cm2 fluorescent concentrator system with
3 mm thick and four parallel interconnected GaInP solar cells at the edges. The white bottom reflector at different distances to the solar cell. This measurement
illumination spot was located in the centre of the concentrator. One can see that helps to understand the effect of the white bottom reflector placed under the
the white bottom reflector increases the efficiency in the absorption region of the fluorescent concentrator. The EQE increases significantly with decreasing distance
dye. Especially in the weaker absorbing region, a second chance to absorb after a to the solar cell. It increases also in the wavelength range above 550 nm in which
reflection from the bottom increases light collection. the fluorescent concentrator hardly absorbs. This is a clear hint that light is directly
reflected onto the solar cell. For small distances this is a quiet-significant
contribution to the overall light collection.

reduces it for small areas. For larger areas, there are no significant ηCollection [a.u.]
differences between the results with and without a photonic 3.75 600
structure on top. This is true both for the case with a photonic 570
structure at the bottom and with the white bottom reflector. To 540
Y [cm]

understand this, it is helpful to look in more detail into how the
white bottom reflector increases the efficiency. Fig. 13 shows a
comparison between an EQE measurement with a white bottom
reflector and with a black bottom. Because the white bottom
strongly reflects over a broad spectral range, it gives the light that
lies in the absorption range of the dye a second chance to be
absorbed, but has passed the fluorescent concentrator without
being absorbed. Additionally, light outside the absorption range of
the dye but within the usable wavelength range of the solar cell is
also reflected and therefore has the chance to reach the solar cell
directly or by scattering events. Fig. 14 displays EQE measure-
ments of the described system with white bottom reflector for a
variation of the distance between the illumination spot and the
solar cell. With smaller distances, efficiency increases strongly
also in the spectral region above 550 nm. In this region the dye
does not absorb. This finding supports the explanation that light is
reflected directly to the solar cell from the bottom reflector. As we
can see, this absorption-less light collection contributes signifi-
cantly to the overall light collection for small areas. As the
reflection of the photonic structure is designed to be high in the
emission region of the dye, which is exactly the spectral range
above 600 nm, it prevents light in that region to enter the system
and to be directly led to the solar cell by reflection from the
bottom. Under these circumstances although the photonic
structure increased the collection of the emitted light, the overall
system performance decreases for small areas in comparison to
that with the white bottom reflector alone.
However, the effect of the area close to the solar cell is of less
relevance for larger systems. Furthermore, the losses due to
reabsorption and emission become more important with increas-
ing size of fluorescent concentrators. That is, the beneficial effect
of the photonic structures should be more pronounced for bigger
systems, so we studied the effect on the bigger system with
5  10 cm2 area described in the previous section. Fig. 15 shows
2.50 510
480
450
1.25 420
390
360
330
2.5 5.0 7.5 10.0 300
X [cm]
Fig. 15. Light-beam-induced current (LBIC) scan of the 10  5 cm2 sample
described above. A photonic structure was placed on the top of the fluorescent
concentrator during the measurement. A white reflector made from Teflon was
placed at the bottom and the edges without solar cell. The edge with the attached
solar is located at the right in this picture. The full collector area was not scanned
to avoid contact of the scanning with the wiring of the system. One can see that the
collection efficiency is the highest close to the solar cell. The efficiency drops with
increasing distance to the solar cell and closer to the edges.
the spatially resolved light collection efficiency as was measured
with a light-beam-induced current (LBIC) setup on the system
with a photonic structure on the top. One can see that the
collection efficiency is the highest close to the solar cell, as we
would expect. The efficiency drops with increasing distance to the
solar cell and closer to the edges. The drop closer to the edges can
be explained by the not-perfect reflection of white reflectors at
the edges. Close to the edges the probability for emitted light to
hit the rim surface with an angle smaller than the critical angle
of total internal reflection is higher for simple geometrical
reasons. If light leaves the collector at the edges not all the light
is reflected back.
Fig. 16 compares the averaged linescans in x-direction of the
LBIC scan shown in Fig. 15 and of a scan without photonic
structure. The average was taken from 1.25 to 2.5 cm in
y-direction. Close to the solar cell the efficiency is lower with
the photonic structure, because of the effect discussed extensively
above. However, over most of the fluorescent concentrator,
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182 J.C. Goldschmidt et al. / Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells 93 (2009) 176–182
Without
600
With
Photonic Structure
500
Signal [a.u.]
400
300
0 2 4 6 8 10
Distance from Solar Cell [cm]
Fig. 16. Averaged linescans in x-direction from the LBIC scan shown in Fig. 13 and
of a scan without photonic structure. The average was taken from 1.25 to 2.5 cm in
y-direction. Close to the solar cell the efficiency is lower with the photonic
structure, because it reduces the effectiveness of the bottom reflector for small
distances as was discussed extensively above. However, over most of the
fluorescent concentrator, collection efficiency is significantly higher with a
photonic structure, resulting in a relative efficiency increase of 20%.
collection efficiency is significantly higher with a photonic
structure, resulting in a relative efficiency increase of 20%. This
is a clear demonstration of how photonic structures can help to
increase the collection efficiencies of larger fluorescent concen-
trator systems.
5. Summary and outlook
In this paper we demonstrated how the collection efficiency of
fluorescent concentrator systems is increased by two independent
measures. One approach is to combine different dyes to enlarge
the used spectral range. A system using the combination of two
materials had an efficiency of 6.7%. The other approach is to
increase the collection efficiency by the application of a photonic
structure, which acts as a bandstop reflection filter in the emission
range of the dye. We achieved a relative efficiency increase of 20%
with a commercially available filter. With the achieved efficiency
of 3.1% and concentration ratio of 20, the realized fluorescent
concentrator produces about 3.7 times more energy than that of
the used GaInP solar cell produced on its own. We studied these
effects in detail for different system sizes. Photonic structures are
especially beneficial for larger systems. We clarified the role of a
white bottom reflector and its interaction with the photonic
structure. The white bottom reflector increases the efficiency
by two mechanisms. It increases the absorption of light in the
fluorescent concentrator as it reflects non-absorbed light back
into the fluorescent concentrator and it directly reflects light
towards the solar cells. The second mechanism is especially
important for small distances from the solar cell.
Future challenges are to combine these two approaches into
one system for even higher efficiencies. However, this will be a
challenging task because the reflection of the photonic structure
and the absorption/emission characteristics of the dyes have to be
aligned in a way such that one component does not obstruct the
effect of the other feature. Overall, the used spectral range has to
be extended into the infrared in order to achieve competitive
efficiencies.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Elisabeth Schäffer, Katarzyna Bialecka,
Michael Rauer and Berit Lange for their support. We also thank
the III–V group at Fraunhofer ISE for the production of the GaInP
solar cells. The presented work is partly financed by the DFG-
Project ‘‘Nanosun’’. J. C. Goldschmidt gratefully acknowledges the
scholarship support from the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt,
and the ideational support from the Heinrich-Böll Stiftung and the
German National Academic Foundation.
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