The Hidden Potential Of Luminescent Solar Concentrators

The luminescent solar concentrator (LSC), originally introduced almost four decades ago as a potential alternative/complement to silicon solar cells, has since evolved to a versatile photovoltaic (PV) solution with realistic potential for seamless integration into the urban architectural landscape. Yet, a popular perception of the device still persists: the LSC is mostly seen as just a low-efficiency solar panel. This review challenges this outdated notion and argues that the LSC is, to the contrary, a powerful and highly adaptive photonic platform with many more capabilities and potential than only generating electricity from sunlight. The field has seen a rapidly expanding application portfolio over the last few years, with LSCs now considered in various sensing applications, "smart" windows, chemical reactors, horticulture, and even in optical communication and real-time responsive systems. The main goal of this work is to shed light onto this alternative application space and highlight the LSC's unique spectral manipulation, light distribution, and light concentration properties, and as a result, to encourage the participation from a broader range of disciplines into LSC research with the ultimate aim of stimulating the development of novel, LSC inspired technologies.