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Date Permissions Signed

12-7-2020

Date of Award

Fall 2020

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Department or Program Affiliation

Chemistry

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Chemistry

First Advisor

Patrick, David L.

Second Advisor

Rider, David A. (Materials scientist)

Third Advisor

Gilbertson, John D.

Abstract

Renewable energy technologies that access underutilized spaces in the built environment will need to be implemented, on a large scale, to curtail trending increases in global temperature. Luminescent Solar Concentrators (LSCs) are one such technology. They employ luminophores doped into polymer sandwiched in between glass plates, that redirect sunlight to the device periphery where photovoltaics are attached, producing power. Current devices do not have high enough efficiencies for commercialization. One of the biggest barriers is fluorophore aggregation which causes waveguide refractive index fluctuations which result in parasitic losses from the waveguide. In this work Copper Indium Disulfide/Zinc Sulfide (CIS/ZnS) quantum dots are ligand exchanged with a new block copolymer to reduce aggregation in a PMMA matrix. Additionally, a new LSC fabrication method is introduced that relies on ultrathin, highly concentrated films, created with applied pressure and micron sized spacers, to provide a more uniform index of refraction and increase waveguide trapping efficiency.

Type

Text

Keywords

LSC, Luminescent Solar Concentrator, CIS/ZnS, CIS, Copper Indium Disulfide, Zinc Sulfide, Ultrathin, Ligand Exchange, PMMA, Poly (methyl methacrylate)

Publisher

Western Washington University

OCLC Number

1226526116

Subject – LCSH

Solar concentrators; Luminescence; Aggregation (Chemistry); Polymethylmethacrylate; Wave guides

Format

application/pdf

Genre/Form

masters theses

Language

English

Rights

Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this document for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author’s written permission.

Rights Statement

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.

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