Recent Development of Indoor Organic Photovoltaics

Abstract

Solar energy technologies provide solutions for the effective exploitation of internet of things (IoT)‐based applications such as smart devices. Organic photovoltaics (OPVs) fabricated from π‐conjugated carbon‐based semiconductors have shown great potential for indoor applications based on exceptional properties that include small current leakage under dim lighting, large absorption coefficient, and low‐cost solution processes. However, organic cells need additional enhancements, such as improving their dim light absorption and exploiting suitable bandgap materials, to make the best use of indoor lighting photons. This article highlights the crucial role of the theoretical basis of photovoltaics and reviews the effect of active layer thickness. Furthermore, the crucial advancements in material design for indoor OPVs are highlighted herein. Lastly, the contribution of plasmonic effect of metallic nanoparticles (MNPs) to improve the performance of OPVs is elaborated, which could contribute to raising the efficiency of energy conversion and reaching production scale criteria.

Combinatorial screening of wide band-gap organic solar cell materials with open-circuit voltage between 1.1 and 1.4 V

“…18 Other works also achieve high efficiencies with different materials and strategies, therefore showing the potential of OPV for indoor light harvesting. [19][20][21][22][23][24][25] For this application, solar cells with high 𝐸 bg are needed since the light source to be harvested is typically a light-emitting diode (LED), emitting between 400 and 700 nm with a variable spectrum depending on the LED bulb. 26,27 Therefore, devices with 𝐸 bg below 1.8 eV are expected to suffer from unnecessarily high thermalization losses.…”

Smart indoor organic photovoltaic cells for controlling health monitoring sensors: harnessing sustainable energy solutions for efficient sensing systems

“…Different acceptor materials have been explored in organic photovoltaics with enhanced electron mobility and stability [47]. Interlayers are based on efficient charge transport and minimizing energy losses within the device [48].…”

Complementary Absorption Pseudo‐Ternary Blend Containing a Y‐Series Block Copolymer Acceptor for Indoor and Outdoor All‐Polymer Photovoltaics

“…While natural sunlight covers a wide wavelength range, from the UV to the infrared, most artificial light sources emit primarily in the visible region (Figure 1). [21] Therefore, OPVs offer several advantages over their inorganic counterparts for indoor applications, such as high absorption coefficients, tunable optical bandgaps, and small leakage currents under dim light. [22,23] The ORCID identification number(s) for the author(s) of this article can be found under https://doi.org/10.1002/solr.202300871.…”