Publication date: 11th March 2026
Photochromic solar cells are an emerging class of photovoltaic devices exhibiting dynamic optical and electrical properties, making them a promising option for integration into building façades and smart glazing systems. When exposed to sunlight, these devices can reversibly modulate their colour, transparency, and photovoltaic performance in real time.
In 2020, we demonstrated an effective strategy for developing this class of light-responsive solar cells, which is based on push–pull photochromic photosensitisers incorporating a diphenylnaphthopyran core within dye-sensitised solar cell (DSSC) architectures. This approach enabled excellent reversibility between coloured and bleached states while maintaining power conversion efficiencies of around 4% at the cell level and a maximum power output of around 32 mW in semi-transparent mini-modules [1].
In this contribution, we show that targeted structural modifications of these photochromic dyes allow fine control over key device parameters, including colour modulation, decolourisation kinetics, absorption spectra, and photovoltaic performance. We describe the synthetic strategies employed to access these materials and provide a comprehensive investigation of their optoelectronic properties and structure–property relationships [2–4].
We further demonstrate that rational molecular engineering enables the fabrication of semi-transparent mini-modules with average visible transmittance values ranging from 50 to 66%, while preserving an excellent colour rendering index over 94 in both coloured and uncoloured states [5]. Finally, we will present innovative strategies to optimise the optical properties of photochromic dyes and solar cells, paving the way for the next generation of smart photovoltaic devices. [6-7]
This work was funded under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement number 832606; project PISCO) and ERANET programme Project INDYE (ANR-24-MER3-0001).
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