The rapid efficiency enhancement of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) make it a promising photovoltaic (PV) research, which has now drawn attention from industries and government organizations to invest for further development of PSC technology. PSC technology continuously develops into new and improved results. However, stability, toxicity, cost, material production and fabrication become the significant factors, which limits the expansion of PSCs. PSCs integration into a building in the form of building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) is one of the most holistic approaches to exploit it as a next-generation PV technology. Integration of high efficiency and semi-transparent PSC in BIPV is still not a well-established area. The purpose of this review is to get an overview of the relative scope of PSCs integration in the BIPV sector. This review demonstrates the benevolence of PSCs by stimulating energy conversion and its perspective and gradual evolution in terms of photovoltaic applications to address the challenge of increasing energy demand and their environmental impacts for BIPV adaptation. Understanding the critical impact regarding the materials and devices established portfolio for PSC integration BIPV are also discussed. In addition to highlighting the apparent advantages of using PSCs in terms of their demand, perspective and the limitations, challenges, new strategies of modification and relative scopes are also addressed in this review.

Transmitted external daylight through semi-transparent type building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) window can alter the visible daylight spectrum and render different color which can have an impact on building’s occupants’ comfort. Colour properties are defined by the colour rendering index (CRI) and correlated colour temperature (CCT). In this work, less explored colour comfort analysis of N719 dye-sensitized TiO2 based dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) BIPV window was characterised and analysis after two years of ambient exposure. Three different DSSCs were fabricated by varying TiO2 thickness. The reduced average visible transmission was observed while enhanced colour properties were obtained for all three DSSCs. This study could pave way to future developments in the area of BIPV technology using DSSC in terms of their long-term exploration.

The stability of perovskite solar cells (PSC) is often compromised by the organic hole transport materials (HTMs). We report here the effect of WO₃ as an inorganic HTM for carbon electrodes for improved stability in PSCs, which are made under ambient conditions. Sequential fabrication of the PSC was performed under ambient conditions with mesoporous TiO₂/Al₂O₃/CH₃NH₃PbI₃ layers, and, on the top of these layers, the WO₃ nanoparticle-embedded carbon electrode was used. Different concentrations of WO₃ nanoparticles as HTM incorporated in carbon counter electrodes were tested, which varied the stability of the cell under ambient conditions. The addition of 7.5% WO₃ (by volume) led to a maximum power conversion efficiency of 10.5%, whereas the stability of the cells under ambient condition was ∼350 h, maintaining ∼80% of the initial efficiency under light illumination. At the same time, the higher WO₃ concentration exhibited an efficiency of 9.5%, which was stable up to ∼500 h with a loss of only ∼15% of the initial efficiency under normal atmospheric conditions and light illumination. This work demonstrates an effective way to improve the stability of carbon-based perovskite solar cells without affecting the efficiency for future applications.

Dual temperature coefficients characteristics are introduced for ambient carbon-based perovskite solar cell in the temperature window of 5 °C to 75 °C, utilising crystal growth via solvent exchange preparation method.

The self-assembling characteristics allow carbon nanomaterials to be a readily explored environmentally benign, solution-processed, low-cost and efficient solar light-harvesting materials. An effort has been executed to replace the regular photovoltaic device’s electrodes by different carbon allotrope based electrodes. Sequential fabrication of carbon solar cells was performed under an ambient condition, where FTO/graphene/single-walled carbon nanotube/graphene quantum dots-fullerene/carbon black paste layers were assembled with poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) as an encapsulating layer. The PMMA layer provides significant improvement towards the ingress of water vapour, and hence leading to exhibit stability up to 1000 h. The photo-conversion efficiency (PCE) of the PMMA encapsulated carbon solar cell has been increased to ~105% and the stability decreased by only ~10% after 1000 h of moisture ambient exposure. Besides, the building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) window properties using this carbon solar cell was also investigated by using colour rendering index (CRI) and correlated colour temperature (CCT), which can have an impact on building’s occupants’ comfort. This study leads to an extensive integration to improve carbon-based materials due to their effective useful but less explored characteristics suitable for potential photovoltaic applications.