Heat-Insulating Multifunctional Semitransparent Polymer Solar Cells

Semitransparent organic photovoltaics (ST-OPVs) have attracted extensive attention due to their potential for integration into the windows of buildings. Herein, we propose a dual-functional ST-OPV device that is not only highly efficient but also very effective for heat insulation. By introducing non-fullerene acceptor with enhanced near-infrared absorption and distributed Bragg reflectors for selectively enhancing the transmittance in visible wavelengths while keeping high reflectance for near-infrared light, the ST-OPVs generate over 6% power conversion efficiency with high visible light transmission of over 25% and outstanding infrared radiation rejection rate of over 80%. Our results show that with proper design of ST-OPVs, they can be used not only for generating power from sunlight but also for solar shading and heat insulation, which opens up a new application of OPVs for both energy harvesting and saving.