Semi-transparent Perovskite Solar Cells Developed by Considering Human Luminosity Function.

Semi-transparent solar cells draw a great deal of attention because their applications include, for instance, photovoltaic windows. General approach to semi-transparent cells is using thin active layers or island-type structures. Here we take human luminosity function into account, and develop solar cells that harvest photons in the wavelength regions in which human eyes are less sensitive to light. We used an organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite, which is sensitive to light particularly in the blue and deep-blue regions, and plasmonic silver nanocubes that enhance light harvesting in the red and deep-red ranges. In order to tune the plasmonic wavelength to that range, we took advantage of electrode-coupled plasmons (ECPs). We prepared non-plasmonic semi-transparent solar cells, and reduced the active layer thickness and introduced ECPs, so that the visual transparency index and power conversion efficiency of the cell were improved by 28% and 6%, respectively, of the initial values.