Interfacial engineering of hybridized solar cells for simultaneously harvesting solar and rain energies

Abstract

Photovoltaics have been regarded as a promising solution to energy and environmental problems, however the state-of-the-art photovoltaics cannot harvest energy or therefore generate electricity in completely dark conditions. To address this issue, we present here the realization of physical proof-of-concept hybridized solar cells by tailoring photovoltaics with polyaniline and its derivates for harvesting energy from the sun and rain. Through interfacial engineering, the optimized polyaniline–graphene/PtCo tailored solar cell yields a photo efficiency of 9.09% under air mass 1.5 illumination and a dark efficiency of up to 25.58% as well as current and voltage under the stimulus of real rain. This work may enable scientists to explore advanced all-weather solar cells revolutionizing photovoltaics.