On enhancing the efficiency of solar cells and extending their performance life

In the first part of this work, the influence of a thin luminescent layer on the efficiency of a solar cell was investigated. The results showed that the short circuit current increased by a factor of 1.36. In the second part, we studied the effect of three different modules of luminescent solar concentrators on the performance of the cell. The enhancement of the short circuit current by a factor of 1.44 and 1.48 was achieved by sloped edge mounting and a bottom configuration respectively. The two modules collect both luminescent radiation and transmitted light. The edge L-sc module has increased the l(sc) by a factor of 1.35. The resistance of PMMA to UV radiation was tested, which has an effect on long-term performance and life cycle costs of L(SC)s systems. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.