Fourth-generation solar cells: a review

Rehman, Fatima; Syed, Iqrar Hussain; Khanam, Saira; Ijaz, Sumbel; Mehmood, Haris; Zubair, Muhammad; Massoud, Yehia; Mehmood, Muhammad Qasim

doi:10.1039/d3ya00179b

Cited by 34 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 217 publications

(232 reference statements)

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“…[11][12][13][14][15] Although silicon-based photovoltaic technology has seen, in the last twenty years, a continuous lowering of production costs, 16 the scientific community's attention has also been focused on new technologies capable of providing better aspects. [17][18][19][20][21] Among these characteristics, the use of materials that require production and manufacturing processes carried out in mild conditions, the ability of solar cells to work even indoors or in a vertical position, and the possibility of manufacturing flexible devices have emerged and have led to new classes of photovoltaic cells, such as perovskite solar cells [22][23][24][25][26] and dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). [27][28][29][30][31] While the formers have achieved and exceeded the performance of silicon-based photovoltaics, with which they can also be combined in tandem devices, [32][33][34] the DSSCs have unique properties in terms of transparency, variety of available colors, absence of heavy metals in their active components.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring zinc oxide morphologies for aqueous solar cells by a photoelectrochemical, computational, and multivariate approach

Maruccia,

Galliano,

Schiavo

et al. 2024

Energy Adv.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring zinc oxide morphologies for aqueous solar cells by a photoelectrochemical, computational, and multivariate approach

Maruccia,

Galliano,

Schiavo

et al. 2024

Energy Adv.

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“…The urgent need to develop innovative strategies to harvest energy from sustainable resources has led to numerous technological innovations and explorations in recent years. − Extracting electrical energy from naturally abundant, clean, and renewable sources could be a promising solution to address the ever-growing energy and environmental crisis. Recently developed technologies like triboelectric nanogenerators, − piezoelectric nanogenerators, − electret nanogenerators, , electrokinetic nanogenerators, − solar cells, − thermoelectric cells, − and moisture-driven generators ,− have shown great efficiencies in converting environmental energy into electricity. However, many of these devices rely on either time- or location-specific environmental conditions such as sunlight, wind, flowing water, thermal, pressure, or moisture gradients.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assembly of Natural Clay Minerals as Highly Robust Evaporation-Driven Power Generator

Bora,

Nath,

Dey

et al. 2024

ACS Appl. Energy Mater.

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Inexhaustible natural resources, such as water, wind, moisture, and ubiquitous natural processes such as evaporation or condensation, could offer optimal energy strategies for a sustainable future. Recently, there has been a surge in interest surrounding evaporation-driven power generators (EDPs), which rely on capillary-driven water flow through permselective nanochannels, followed by evaporation into the atmosphere. Despite huge potential, existing EDPs encounter hurdles like expensive and environmentally unfriendly active materials and complex fabrication processes. Here, we introduce a bilayer membrane composed of two distinct clay minerals, vermiculite (VM) and halloysite nanotube (HNT) clay, to develop an evaporation-driven energy generator capable of generating an open-circuit potential up to 406 mV along with short circuit currents of ∼3.4 μA, resulting in a power density up to 0.85 mW/cm 3 . Due to the affordability, biocompatibility of the materials employed, and simplicity of device fabrication, this energy generator can be upscaled to power low-energy electronic devices and sensors. The all-clay power generator can withstand extreme temperatures; exposure to 180 °C did not affect its power harvesting properties. Individual energy generators are connected in series to power small electronic devices, such as humidity meters, calculators, and LEDs.

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“…From small wearable electronics to large-scale systems, solar energy has found its applications in diverse fields, making it a crucial player in the energy sector. Solar cells of the fourth generation are an encouraging advancement in photovoltaic technology [1][2][3][4], with the goal of surpassing the limitations of previous generations and offering improved efficiency, reduced cost, and expanded functionality [5]. Indoor organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells typically consist of organic materials, such as polymers or small molecules, that can efficiently convert low-intensity indoor light into electrical energy [6][7][8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Zakai,

Ijaz,

Mahmood

et al. 2024

Optical Sensing and Detection VIII

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Indoor organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells present a promising technology to fuel smart applications due to their thin, lightweight, and flexible nature, rendering them ideal for wearable and implantable devices. Moreover, they can be manufactured through cost-effective and accessible methods, making them an appealing choice for large-scale production. OPV have the potential to revolutionize the realm of medical applications by providing a dependable and sustainable power source for wearable devices. Using OPVs in indoor settings offers the potential to capture clean energy from easily accessible for indoor light sources, to power self-sufficient devices, improve the visual appeal of designs, support sustainability initiatives, and lower the energy expenses. These indoor organic cells are capable of achieving remarkably high power conversion efficiencies (PCEs), which are fairly comparable with the typical efficiencies of commercial single junction indoor silicon photovoltaic cells, which usually hover around 26%. Notably, indoor OPV cells are seamlessly integrated into wearable devices, to ensure patient comfort and safety. The use of organic materials in the active layer have made the realization of highly efficient, flexible, lightweight, biocompatible, and durable devices possible. In this work, we have used PBDB-TCl:AITC:BTP-eC9 as an active layer to produce a high efficiency for indoor OPV as well as to control and optimize the operating voltage of 1865 series sensors in order to power the smart IoT health monitoring sensors. The OPV cells embedded with smart sensor devices help in monitoring the human (patient) vitals such as blood-pressure, body temperature and other parameters. It is found that the layer of polymers PBDB-TCl : AITC : BTP-eC9 in the device provides an open-circuit voltage of 0.87V, fill factor of 79.4% and a power conversion efficiency of 19.1% under low light intensity. Inspiringly, an output efficiency of more than 26% under 1000lx has been realized.

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Fourth-generation solar cells: a review

Abstract: In this paper, we have discussed the most advanced state-of-the-art fourth-generation solar cells which consist mainly of 2D materials-based solar cells, Quantum dots-based solar cells (QDSCs), Perovskite solar cells (PSCs),...

Cited by 34 publications

References 217 publications

Exploring zinc oxide morphologies for aqueous solar cells by a photoelectrochemical, computational, and multivariate approach

Exploring zinc oxide morphologies for aqueous solar cells by a photoelectrochemical, computational, and multivariate approach

Assembly of Natural Clay Minerals as Highly Robust Evaporation-Driven Power Generator

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

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