The purpose of this work is to investigate the performance of a new design concept for a tandem Ce:YAG fluorescent solar concentrator. In this design, elements of Ce:YAG arranged in a hexagonal pattern within a waveguide absorb high energy photons and emit them at an energy optimized for edge-mounted III-V solar cells with a bandgap higher than silicon's bandgap. A silicon solar cell is located below the waveguide to absorb light transmitted or re-emitted through the concentrator. We first determined the optical properties of single crystal Ce:YAG. These results yielded a peak excitation at 470 nm with an absorption coefficient of 25.8 cm(-1), a peak emission at 530 nm with an absorption coefficient of 1.57 cm(-1); and an internal quantum efficiency of 80.0. Our experimental analysis using powder Ce:YAG yields a waveguide optical efficiency of 33 for the design excluding focusing lenses and 54 with lenses. There are some sources of error that were addressed by using single crystal Ce:YAG instead of powder. The projected overall FSC efficiency is 15.4 for a tandem fluorescent design using GaP edge-mounted solar cells and a silicon solar cell below the waveguide. This efficiency increases to 19.9 for InGaP edge-mounted cells instead of GaP cells. In both cases single crystal Ce:YAG is assumed. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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