Luminescent solar concentrators (LSC) are an emerging complementary technology to photovoltaic cells, that enable efficient harvesting of sunlight in the urban environment. A typical LSC is a plastic slab that absorbs sunlight and re-emits light of a tailored wavelength towards its edges, where solar cells can be installed. LSCs are colourful, semi-transparent, and modular – characteristics that can be exploited for architectural design. However, their efficiency is highly dependent on their size and geometry.
We are currently investigating the use of 3D printing as a low cost, high throughput methodology to screen different LSC architectures. This involves fabricating luminescent filament, computer-aided design of LSC architectures, optimisation of the printing process, and optical characterisation of the prototype performance.