Modeling visual appearance of nanocrystal-based luminescent solar concentrators

The Luminescent Solar Concentrator (LSC) is a photovoltaics concept that can easily be used for integration in buildings. As a window component the transmitted spectrum of the LSC affects the color quality of daylight in the interior of a building. We evaluate eight state of the art nanocrystal luminophores as candidates for LSC windows applications, using ray-trace Monte Carlo simulations. LSCs are assessed with respect to different color quality criteria, using transparency ranging from 90% to 50%. We find that LSC device efficiency is inversely proportional to transparency. Also, luminophores with a wide absorption bandwidth in the visible have higher color temperatures and high color rendering index, leading to good visual comfort at appreciable device efficiency.