Investigation of linear optical absorption coefficients in core-shell quantum dot (QD) luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs)

The interlevel absorption coefficient of CdSe/ZnS and ZnS/CdSe core-shell Quantum Dot (QD) in luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) is reported. By considering the quantum confinement effects, the wave functions and eigenenergies of electrons in the nonperturebative system consists of a core-shell QD have been numerically calculated under the frame work of effective-mass approximation by solving a three-dimensional Schrodinger equation. And then the absorption coefficient is obtained under density matrix approximation considering in the polymer sheets of the concentrator including the core shell QDs. The effect of the hetero-structure geometry upon the energy spectrum and absorption coefficient associated to interlevel transitions was also considered. The results show that the core-shell QDs can absorb the photons with higher energy in solar spectrum as compared to the inverted core-shell. And with a small shell layer diameter, the core shell QDs produce larger linear absorption coefficients and consequently higher efficiency values, however it is inversed for inverted core-shell QDs. The work described here gives a detailed insight into the promise of QD-based LSCs and the optoelectronic devices applications. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.