Francesca Corsini

Luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) are light‐management devices able to harvest and downshift sunlight, making it available to edge‐coupled photovoltaic cells for light‐to‐electricity conversion. When operating in real‐life outdoor scenarios, LSCs can be exposed to humid/freezing environments which may yield fogging and frosting, ultimately resulting in detrimental performance decay owing to reduced photon absorption and photon trapping efficiency within the waveguide. To address this issue, the first demonstration of an antifogging/frost‐resisting highly efficient thin‐film LSC is presented in this work, based on a tailored semi‐interpenetrating polymer network serving as the host matrix material, where the antifogging behavior is imparted by the simultaneous presence of hydrophilic and hydrophobic segments in the macromolecular structure, whereas the fluorescent response is achieved via the incorporation of a coumarin‐functionalized methacrylic monomer. By judicious selection and compositional tuning of an additional luminescent guest dopant with excellent spectral match with the fluorescent host matrix, highly efficient (≈98%) energy transfer is achieved. Optimized LSC devices exhibit external and internal photon efficiencies as high as 3.96% and 34.79%, respectively. In addition, persistent and reproducible antifogging/frost‐resisting functionality is demonstrated during aggressive aging tests under UV‐light, with preserved fluorescence emission and prolonged and sustained device efficiency.

The use of micellar catalysis enables the sustainable synthesis of persistent, luminescent radicals that are suitable for the preparation of colourless luminescent solar collectors with minimal reabsorption losses and distortion of the transmitted light.

The combination of a de novo design approach and micellar catalysis enables the preparation of innovative luminophores connecting efficiency and sustainability for the preparation of thin film luminescent solar concentrators.

Novel fluoropolymer–polymethylmethacrylate blends used as host matrices in luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) are presented. Fluoropolymer/PMMA-based LSC efficiency is comparable to that of PMMA-based LSCs and is stable over 1000 h of aging test.

In this study, the design, fabrication, and characterization of semi‐transparent large‐area luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) in thin‐film configuration is reported, incorporating a novel organic luminophore (PFPBNT) emitter based on a π‐conjugated core flanked by two naphthothiophene units obtained through a chemically sustainable synthetic approach. As found experimentally and validated through computational modeling, PFPBNT exhibits aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) behavior, broad absorption in the UV–vis spectrum and significant Stokes shift (≈4632 cm^–1), thereby making it an excellent candidate as luminophore in thin‐film LSCs based on a poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) matrix, where it is found to show good compatibility, homogeneous distribution, and excellent photostability. After extensive device optimization, PFPBNT/PMMA LSCs with suitable luminophore concentration (12.5 wt%) showed an internal photon efficiency of 17.3% at a geometrical gain of 6.25 under solar‐simulated illumination. The size scalability of these systems was also evaluated by means of ray‐tracing simulations on devices of up to 1 m² surface area. This work demonstrates semi‐transparent large‐area thin‐film LSCs incorporating chemically sustainable AIEgen luminophores, thus opening the way to the development of synthetically affordable, efficient, and stable emitters for the photovoltaic field.

Organometal halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have emerged as promising candidates for next-generation thin-film solar cells. Over the past ten years, the efficiency of PSCs has increased from 3.8% to over 25% through the optimization of the perovskite film formulation and the engineering of suitable fabrication strategies and device architectures. However, the relatively poor long-term device stability, which has not been able to exceed some hundreds of hours until now, represents one of the key aspects still hampering their widespread diffusion to commercial contexts. After briefly introducing the origin and basic mechanisms behind PSC degradation and performance decline, a systematic outline and classification of the available strategies to improve the long-term stability of this class of photovoltaic devices will be presented, mainly focusing on encapsulation procedures. Indeed, the aim of this review is to offer an in-depth and updated account of the existing encapsulation methods for PSCs according to the present understanding of reliability issues. More specifically, an analysis of currently available encapsulation materials and on their role in limiting the penetration of UV light and external agents, such as water vapour and oxygen, will be proposed. In addition, a thorough discussion on various encapsulation techniques and configurations will be presented, highlighting specific strengths and limitations of the different approaches. Finally, possible routes for future research to enhance the effectiveness of the most performing encapsulation procedures will be suggested and new paths to be explored for further improvements in the field will be proposed.