Carbon-supported single-atom materials for photovoltaic applications

Abstract Carbon-supported single-atom materials (CSAMs) have emerged as a revolutionary class of materials due to their exceptional atomic efficiency, high catalytic activity and tunable electronic properties. Although CSAMs have made significant contributions to catalysis and energy storage, their mechanistic roles in photovoltaic applications remain underexplored. This review systematically examines the device structures, working principles and current challenges of dye-sensitized solar cells, quantum dot solar cells and perovskite solar cells, alongside the pivotal functions of CSAMs in photovoltaics. Featuring atomically dispersed active sites, unique coordination environments, and modifiable electronic structures, CSAMs offer innovative solutions to inherent efficiency and stability limitations in photovoltaic devices. How the electronic structure of metal single-atoms, coordination environments and interactions between CSAMs and photovoltaic materials influence charge separation, transport, injection and catalytic processes in solar cells is elucidated in this review, which establishes a critical bridge between the rapidly evolving field of CSAMs and the development of high-performance, cost-effective solar cells.