Dual-Band Luminescent Solar Converter-Coupled Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells for High-Performance Semitransparent Photovoltaic Device

We demonstrate a high-performance semitransparent solar cell using a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) coupled with a luminescent solar converter (LSC) that absorbs a dual band. We present an architecture of a sandwich-type, downshift (DS) LSC/DSSC/upconversion (UC) LSC. The DS LSC, including anthracene, converts ultraviolet light to visible light, and the UC LSC, which contains a dye pair of meso-tetraphenyl-tetrabenzoporphine palladium/9,10-bis-penylethynyllanthrancane, converts near-infrared light into visible light. Thus, the dual-band LSC improved the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the DSSC without a significant decrease in visible transmittance. We optimize the concentration of the fluorescence dye to obtain maximum photoluminescence in each LSC. We also optimize backward scattering by introducing nanoparticle scatterers in UC LSC. The dual LSC-DSSC showed an average visible transmittance of 42% and achieved an PCE of up to 7.8%. Our incorporation of broadband-wavelength-harvestable LSCs with a DSSC presents a direction for semitransparent photovoltaic devices.