Semitransparent organic solar cell reaches 99.1% bifaciality

Chinese engineers believe that tunable design will make cells perfect for BIPV applications.

A team of Chinese researchers has developed a semitransparent organic solar cell with a bifaciality factor of 99.1%, the highest reported for such cells to date. The cell demonstrates similar photovoltaic performance when illuminated from either side and maintains excellent power conversion efficiency under low light intensity or at low incident angles.

The research, conducted by Wuhan University of Technology and Central South University in Changsha, created the cell using silver nanowires (AgNWs) for the top electrodes and a bilayer electron transport layer combining zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO) and PDINN, a cathode interlayer, to improve the interface between the active layer and the top electrode.

The results of the research were published in Materials Today Energy under the name "A semitransparent organic solar cell with a bifacial factor of 99.1%." The paper concludes that this cell offers a straightforward solution for fabricating high-performance semitransparent organic cells with AgNWs top electrodes, and its colorful tunability and excellent bifacial photovoltaic behavior make it a promising candidate for building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) applications.