Applications of Polymers in Energy Conversion and Storage Fields: A Review

The rapid development of photovoltaics, which directly convert solar energy to electricity, has been achieved by both academia and industry and regarded as one of the most clean and renewable energy resources for the next generations. Although inorganic solar cells presently provide higher efficiencies, the high cost and energy-consuming production process limit their wide application. Therefore, extensive studies have investigated new inexpensive organic photovoltaic systems. Recently, polymers have been studied widely in this promising area owing to their versatile and adjustable physical and chemical properties, among which organic solar cells (OSCs) and perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have attracted considerable attention due to their advantages of low cost, lightweight, and flexibility. Especially in the photocatalysis area, polymers can be used to modify photo-corrosive semiconductors to improve the efficiency and stability of solar hydrogen production. Therefore, based on the important roles that polymers play in high-efficiency solar cells and solar hydrogen generation, we herein provide a mini review on the major applications of polymers in energy conversion and storage fields.