Temperature-Responsive Luminescent Solar Concentrators: Tuning Energy Transfer in a Liquid Crystalline Matrix

Jeroen A H P Sol; Volker Dehm; Reinhard Hecht; Frank Würthner; Albertus P H J Schenning; Michael G Debije

doi:10.1002/anie.201710487

Temperature-Responsive Luminescent Solar Concentrators: Tuning Energy Transfer in a Liquid Crystalline Matrix

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2018 Jan 22;57(4):1030-1033. doi: 10.1002/anie.201710487. Epub 2017 Dec 20.

Authors

Jeroen A H P Sol¹, Volker Dehm², Reinhard Hecht², Frank Würthner², Albertus P H J Schenning^{1

3}, Michael G Debije¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry, Functional Organic Materials and Devices, Eindhoven University of Technology, Den Dolech 2, 5612, AZ, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
² Institut für Organische Chemie and Center for Nanosystems Chemistry, Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074, Würzburg, Germany.
³ Institute for Complex Molecular Systems, Eindhoven University of Technology, Den Dolech 2, 5612, AZ, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

Abstract

Temperature-responsive luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) have been fabricated in which the Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) between a donor-acceptor pair in a liquid crystalline solvent can be tuned. At room temperatures, the perylene bisimide (PBI) acceptor is aggregated and FRET is inactive; while after heating to a temperature above the isotropic phase of the liquid crystal solvent, the acceptor PBI completely dissolves and FRET is activated. This unusual temperature control over FRET was used to design a color-tunable LSC. The device has been shown to be highly stable towards consecutive heating and cooling cycles, making it an appealing device for harvesting otherwise unused solar energy.

Keywords: energy transfer; fluorescence; liquid crystals; luminescent solar concentrators; perylene dyes.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't