Highly efficient dye‐sensitized solar cells for wavelength‐selective greenhouse: A promising agrivoltaic system

In trying to solve simultaneously the energy and food crisis, the concept proposed by Agriculture 4.0, namely a combination between the agriculture and the solar energy could provide a possible solution. The wavelength-selective greenhouse could be a promising agrivoltaic system if the trade-off between photovoltaic roofs and plants will be achieved. Using less studied solar cells as an electricity source for an autonomous greenhouse, this study has demonstrated experimentally that the requirements imposed by a greenhouse can be provided by a DSSC using an affordable commercial yellow dye. The successful implementation of DSSC in autonomous greenhouses is conditioned by three main requirements, and that are the transparency of the entire Photosynthetic Active Radiation (PAR) domain along with high UV absorption, high efficiency of the solar cell, and sustainability during the whole year. The best DSSC has proved a high absorption of UV radiation, closely by 90%, a transparency of the DSSCs preserved on the whole PAR domain and achieved a photovoltaic efficiency two times higher than the best efficiency reported for this dye so far. Furthermore, by preserving the maximum efficiency of almost 5% under the light intensity in the range 50 to 100 mW/cm2, the sustainability of our DSSC over the whole year has been demonstrated.