Solar Energy, Vol.208, 31-45, 2020
Rise of nature-inspired solar photovoltaic energy convertors
Novel strategies based on nature-inspired design will play a major role in future photovoltaic solar cells as a sustainable energy resource. Biomimetic photovoltaic solar cells attracted great interest during the last few decades and have shown remarkable enhancements in power conversion efficiency. In this prospective article, we provide a description of the most significant and recent advances in solar energy conversion strategies inspired by nature. This review highlights light-harvesting techniques and utilization of bio-inspired electron transfer pathways used to enhance power conversion efficiency in different types of photovoltaic solar cells. Exceptional efforts are needed to overcome some major fabrication and performance concerns of some bio-inspired solar cell technology. However, solar energy will remain a viable resource to sustain human energy demands and current devices could be greatly improved by bio-inspiration.