The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

The chemical potential of light in fluorescent solar collectors

The chemical potential of light in fluorescent solar collectors
The chemical potential of light in fluorescent solar collectors
The energetic aspect, discussed by the means of the chemical potential, involved into the absorption and radiation processes occurring in the operation of Fluorescent Solar Collectors is of interest in this publication. The chemical potential of the fluorescent light incident on the solar cell is characterised by studying the fluorescence spectrum emitted by a special type of fluorescent collector, where absorption and fluorescence take place in a liquid medium, in effect a liquid fluorescent collector. It is shown that photon re-absorption (known also as photon recycling) gradually brings the emitted photon flux into thermal equilibrium with the collector. The fluorescence photon distribution is then characterised by a specific temperature, obtained from the Kennard-Stepanov law, and a chemical potential given by the generalised Plank’s law. We find that the chemical potential of the fluorescent light incident on the solar cell is nearly equal to the thermodynamical limits imposed by a detailed balance argument. This equality indicates that non radiative losses do not affect the chemical potential of the light escaping from the collector, a major benefit in comparison to simple semiconductor based solar cells where non-radiative losses significantly affect the open circuit voltage.
chemical potential, photoluminescence, spectroscopy, thermodynamics, fluorescent solar collector, luminescent solar collector, detailed balance
0021-8979
063110-[8pp.]
Meyer, T.J.J.
ca776d76-8086-405b-99b0-9cd6d63c172b
Markvart, T.
f21e82ec-4e3b-4485-9f27-ffc0102fdf1c
Meyer, T.J.J.
ca776d76-8086-405b-99b0-9cd6d63c172b
Markvart, T.
f21e82ec-4e3b-4485-9f27-ffc0102fdf1c

Meyer, T.J.J. and Markvart, T. (2009) The chemical potential of light in fluorescent solar collectors. Journal of Applied Physics, 105 (6), 063110-[8pp.]. (doi:10.1063/1.3097328).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The energetic aspect, discussed by the means of the chemical potential, involved into the absorption and radiation processes occurring in the operation of Fluorescent Solar Collectors is of interest in this publication. The chemical potential of the fluorescent light incident on the solar cell is characterised by studying the fluorescence spectrum emitted by a special type of fluorescent collector, where absorption and fluorescence take place in a liquid medium, in effect a liquid fluorescent collector. It is shown that photon re-absorption (known also as photon recycling) gradually brings the emitted photon flux into thermal equilibrium with the collector. The fluorescence photon distribution is then characterised by a specific temperature, obtained from the Kennard-Stepanov law, and a chemical potential given by the generalised Plank’s law. We find that the chemical potential of the fluorescent light incident on the solar cell is nearly equal to the thermodynamical limits imposed by a detailed balance argument. This equality indicates that non radiative losses do not affect the chemical potential of the light escaping from the collector, a major benefit in comparison to simple semiconductor based solar cells where non-radiative losses significantly affect the open circuit voltage.

Text
65899-01.pdf - Version of Record
Download (907kB)

More information

Published date: 25 March 2009
Keywords: chemical potential, photoluminescence, spectroscopy, thermodynamics, fluorescent solar collector, luminescent solar collector, detailed balance
Organisations: Engineering Mats & Surface Engineerg Gp

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 65899
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/65899
ISSN: 0021-8979
PURE UUID: 1149b43d-4a83-4cb0-a87b-08777dbad751

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 27 Mar 2009
Last modified: 13 Mar 2024 18:01

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: T.J.J. Meyer
Author: T. Markvart

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×