Graphene and Graphene-like Molecules: Prospects in Solar Cells

Graphene is constantly hyped as a game-changer for flexible transparent displays. However, to date, no solar cell fabricated on graphene electrodes has out-performed indium tin oxide in power conversion efficiency (PCE). This Perspective covers the enabling roles that graphene can play in solar cells because of its unique properties. Compared to transparent and conducting metal oxides, graphene may not have competitive advantages in terms of its electrical conductivity. The unique strength of graphene lies in its ability to perform various enabling roles in solar cell architectures, leading to overall improvement in PCE. Graphene can serve as an ultrathin and transparent diffusion barrier in solar cell contacts, as an intermediate layer in tandem solar cells, as an electron acceptor, etc. Inspired by the properties of graphene, chemists are also designing graphene-like molecules in which the topology of π-electron array, donor-acceptor structures, and conformation can be tuned to offer a new class of light-harvesting materials.