Transmission windows of charge transport layers and electrodes in highly transparent organic solar cells for agrivoltaic application

Organic semiconducting materials provide only narrow absorption bands, in contrast to classical, inorganic semiconductors. Concerning photovoltaic applications this is considered as a drawback; however, in combination with plant cultivation the narrow-band absorption provides a unique advantage: Organic solar cell devices with high transparency between 1.75 and 3.5 eV can be designed, being translucent exactly in the spectral range where chlorophyll is predominantly active in natural photosynthesis. These organic photovoltaic-based agrivoltaics are called “AgrOPV”. Common active layer materials already fulfill the requirements for AgrOPV application; the suitability of the other materials used in the photovoltaic layer stack, instead, is hardly investigated and widely uncertain. In order to provide guidance for future developments, we will discuss the suitability of charge transport and electrode materials for AgrOPV applications, mainly on the basis of their absorptance.