Most
photovoltaic (PV) technologies are opaque to maximize visible
light absorption. However, see-through solar cells open additional
perspectives for PV integration. Looking beyond maximizing visible
light harvesting, this work considers the human eye photopic response
to optimize a selective near-infrared sensitizer based on a polymethine
cyanine structure (VG20-C
x
) to render
dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) fully transparent and colorless.
This peculiarity was achieved by conferring to the dye the ability
to strongly and sharply absorb beyond 800 nm (S
0
–S
1
transition) while rejecting the upper S
0
–S
n
contributions far in the blue where the
human retina is poorly sensitive. When associated with an aggregation-free
anatase TiO
2
photoanode, the selective NIR-DSSC can display
3.1% power conversion efficiency, up to 76% average visible transmittance
(AVT), a value approaching the 78% AVT value of a standard double
glazing window while reaching a color rendering index (CRI) of 92.1%.
The ultrafast and fast charge transfer processes are herein discussed,
clarifying the different relaxation channels from the dye monomer
excited states and highlighting the limiting steps to provide future
directions to enhance the performances of this nonintrusive NIR-DSSC
technology.
The development of transparent solar cells extends the applications of photovoltaics by offering the opportunity to substitute the gigantic surface coverage of windows by solar panels to produce electricity. Herein, we report a new family of NIR-sensitizers based on pyrrolopyrrole cyanine dyes, particularly efficient for the development of fully transparent and colorless dyesensitized solar cells since a record efficiency of 2.5 % was achieved with an average visible transmittance (AVT) of 76 % and a color rending index (CRI) of 93.
The development of transparent solar cells extends the applications of photovoltaics by offering the opportunity to substitute the gigantic surface coverage of windows by solar panels to produce electricity. Herein, we report a new family of NIR‐sensitizers based on pyrrolopyrrole cyanine dyes, particularly efficient for the development of fully transparent and colorless dye‐sensitized solar cells since a record efficiency of 2.5 % was achieved with an average visible transmittance (AVT) of 76 % and a color rending index (CRI) of 93.
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