Luminescent Solar Concentrators and the Harvest of Solar Energy

Oral Presentation
2:35-2:55 p.m. CDT on April 14, 2021

The goal of this project is to create quality sheets of plastic infused with quantum dots for the purpose of collecting and propagating solar energy. To do this, quantum dots must be infused into Polymethyl Methacrylate (PMMA) plastic without any damage or significant change to properties. Various procedures to do so will need to be assessed, and the manufacture of additional equipment to facilitate these procedures may be necessary. This project seeks to establish a viable procedure with which lead sulfide quantum dots can be added into (PMMA) plastic without allowing for the oxidization of the quantum dots or degradation of the plastic. The validity of this procedure will be assessed through the measurement of the optical properties of embedded quantum dots and the optical yield of the concentrator upon exposure to light.

Joseph Wiechelman, Filipe Nunes, Joseph Stegman, Justin Nichols, Georgiy Shcherbatyuk, Marie Rioux, Aaron League, Physics and Astronomy, Chemistry and Biochemistry

Location