Encapsulation of Tandem Organic Luminescence Solar Concentrator With Optically Transparent Triple Layers of SiO2/Epoxy/SiO2

Developing an organic luminescent solar concentrator (LSC), featuring ultralong lifetime and high transparency simultaneously, is crucial for building-integrated photovoltaic applications, such as solar energy harvesting clear windows. In this paper, a tandem organic LSC is encapsulated and connected with three optically transparent layers, namely an encapsulating epoxy layer and two insulating SiO
₂
layers that prevent dissolving the organic dyes into the epoxy layer. Experimental results demonstrate that the encapsulated organic LSC maintains the high average transmission of 60% in the visible range of 390–750 nm, and has an ultralong lifetime of
$\sim 6.7 \times 10^{4}$
h under illuminated test in laboratory environment, which is around five times longer than that of the organic LSC without any encapsulation. In addition, experiments confirm that most of the photoluminescence radiation generated in the organic dyes is trapped in the high-index SiO
₂
/epoxy/SiO
₂
structure, and guided between the glass substrate before emerging from the four edges of the organic LSC sample for conversion to electricity. A 30% increase in short-circuit current is attained, in comparison with a similar unencapsulated organic LSC structure.