Photochromic dye-sensitized solar cells with light-driven adjustable optical transmission and power conversion efficiency
- 8 June 2020
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Nature Energy
- Vol. 5 (6), 468-477
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-020-0624-7
Abstract
Semi-transparent photovoltaics only allow for the fabrication of solar cells with an optical transmission that is fixed during their manufacturing resulting in a trade-off between transparency and efficiency. For the integration of semi-transparent devices in buildings, ideally solar cells should generate electricity while offering the comfort for users to self-adjust their light transmission with the intensity of the daylight. Here we report photochromic dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) based on dyes with a donor-π-conjugated-bridge-acceptor structure where the π-conjugated bridge is substituted by a diphenyl-naphthopyran photochromic unit. DSSCs show change in colour and self-adjustable light transmittance when irradiated and demonstrate a power conversion efficiency up to 4.17%. The colouration–decolouration process is reversible and these DSSCs are stable over 50 days. We also report semi-transparent photo-chromo-voltaic mini-modules (active area of 14 cm²) exhibiting a maximum power output of 32.5 mW after colouration.This publication has 50 references indexed in Scilit:
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