Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Solar Cells for Indoor Energy Harvesting

TL;DR

This paper evaluates transition metal dichalcogenide solar cells for indoor energy harvesting, demonstrating their potential to outperform traditional PV devices in various indoor lighting conditions for IoT applications.

Contribution

It provides a detailed performance assessment of TMD solar cells under realistic indoor lighting, highlighting their high efficiency and suitability for IoT energy harvesting.

Findings

Achieve up to 36.5% efficiency under fluorescent lighting

Outperform commercial PV in indoor scenarios

Effective under low-light conditions at 500 lux

Abstract

With the rapid expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT), efficient and durable energy harvesters for powering IoT devices operating indoors and outdoors are imperative. Promising materials for indoor photovoltaic (PV) technologies include transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) such as MoS2, MoSe2, WS2, and WSe2, mainly due to their high absorption coefficients and self-passivated surfaces. Here, we assess the performance of single-junction TMD solar cells under various indoor lighting conditions with a realistic detailed balance model including material-specific optical absorption, as well as radiative, Auger, and defect-assisted Shockley-Read-Hall recombination. We find TMD solar cells could achieve up to 36.5%, 35.6%, 11.2%, and 27.6% power conversion efficiency under fluorescent, LED, halogen, and low-light AM 1.5 G lighting, respectively, at 500 lux. Based on this, TMD solar cells could outperform commercial PV technologies in indoor scenarios, suggesting their viability for future IoT energy solutions.