Grantee Research Project Results
2020 Progress Report: Capturing Solar Energy with Quantum Dots
EPA Grant Number: SU839964Title: Capturing Solar Energy with Quantum Dots
Investigators: Lombardini, Richard , Khon, Dmitriy , Galeas, Bryan , Ramos, Sebastian Castro , Feagins, David , Tran, Khoa , Zamora, Ricardo
Current Investigators: Lombardini, Richard , Khon, Dmitriy , Galeas, Bryan , Ramos, Sebastian Castro , Feagins, David
Institution: St Marys University
EPA Project Officer: Callan, Richard
Phase: I
Project Period: October 1, 2019 through September 30, 2020 (Extended to September 30, 2021)
Project Period Covered by this Report: October 1, 2019 through September 30,2020
Project Amount: $23,780
RFA: P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition Focusing on People, Prosperity and the Planet (2019) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: P3 Awards , P3 Challenge Area - Air Quality
Objective:
We aim to develop a more efficient luminescent solar concentrator (LSC) using a combination of two different heavy-metal-free quantum dots (core/shell), InP/ZnO (IP) and CuInSexS2-x/ZnS (CISeS). Individually, these quantum dots have been engineered to be used in LSCs as fluorophores due to their absorption and emission spectra profiles. When mixed together, they may increase LSC efficiency further due to the energy exchange between dot-types known as Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET). Overall, there are three targets in this project:
1. Experimentally determine the optimal weight percentages (wt%) of each of these types of quantum dots in a mixture that will maximize LSC efficiency.
2. Computationally determine the same optimal wt% using a Monte Carlo simulation which randomly samples from probability distribution functions derived from optical principles.
3. Incorporate the P3 approach of sustainability into the curriculum of upper-level physics courses.
Progress Summary:
1. The IP dots have been successfully synthesized in our laboratory, but the CISeS dots have yet to be made. New synthesis procedures will be explored.
2. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we determined the concentrations of individual quantum dot species (CISeS and IP) in LSCs needed to produce the maximum percent solar-averaged optical efficiency.
3. The P3 approach of sustainability was incorporated into research report projects assigned in the upper-level physics courses during the Spring and Fall semesters of 2020. Ten reports from undergraduate students were produced on varying environmental topics.
Future Activities:
1. With the remaining time, we hope to successfully synthesize the CISeS quantum dots and perform absorption and emission spectral analyses of individual-dot-species colloidal suspensions (CISeS and IP) as well as of different weight percentage (wt%) mixtures of the two in the hopes of finding the optimal wt% mixture that provides the largest intensity of emission at 900-1000 nm. In addition, we hope to take TEM images of the dots, and prepare a prototype LSC by doping transparent polymer slabs with the optimal mixture of quantum dots.
2. We hope to computationally determine the particular wt% mixture of the two-quantum dot-species that provides the largest LSC efficiency by incorporating FRET into the simulation.
3. During the Spring semester of 2021, I will give the same report assignment in my Advanced Quantum Mechanics course (PY 4308).
Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 1 publications for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
energy conservation, alternative energy source, solar energy, renewable energy, photovoltaic technology, nanotechnology, computational simulations, computer modelsProgress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.