Color-tunable hybrid heterojunctions as semi-transparent photovoltaic windows for photoelectrochemical water splitting
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Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The strong but narrow-bandwidth absorption spectra of organic semiconductors make them excellent candidates for semi-transparent solar cell applications in which color specificity is important. In this study, using a hybrid heterojunction combining the transparent inorganic semiconductor copper thiocyanate (CuSCN) with organic semiconductors (C70, PC70BM, C60, ITIC, IT-4F, or Y6), we show that simple color-tunable solar cells can be fabricated in which the transmission spectrum is determined solely by choice of the organic semiconductor. Using a joint electrical-optical model, we show that it is possible to combine the unique attributes of high photovoltage and color tunability to use these heterojunctions as photovoltaic windows in tandem photoelectrochemical (PEC)-photovoltaic (PV) cells. We demonstrate that this configuration can lead to a reduction in the parasitic absorption losses in the PEC-PV cells and, thus, to solar-to-hydrogen efficiencies (>3%) that are higher than that predicted using the traditionally used architecture in which the PV is placed behind the PEC.
Date Issued
2021-12
Date Acceptance
2021-11-15
Citation
Cell Reports Physical Science, 2021, 2 (12), pp.1-16
ISSN
2666-3864
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Start Page
1
End Page
16
Journal / Book Title
Cell Reports Physical Science
Volume
2
Issue
12
Copyright Statement
© 2021 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
License URL
Sponsor
The Royal Society
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
European Research Council
Identifier
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266638642100401X?via%3Dihub
Grant Number
RSG\R1\180434
EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellowship
European Union’s Horizon 2020 Grant Agreement No. 742708
Subjects
organic semiconductors
semi-transparent solar cells
photoelectrochemical cells
photoelectrochemical-photovoltaic tandems
water-splitting.
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
100676
Date Publish Online
2021-12-06