Next-generation materials and devices for indoor photovoltaic energy harvesting

As buildings account for almost 40% of global energy consumption and around 36% of greenhouse gas emissions, improving energy efficiency is critical. Smart buildings address this challenge by using digitalisation and automation to monitor and optimise energy usage in systems such as heating, lighting, and air-conditioning. This relies on the collection and processing of real-time data from interconnected Internet of Things (IoT) sensors. However, powering large-scale IoT sensor networks remains a key limitation. Reliance on external power supplies and batteries leads to high maintenance costs, an increased carbon footprint and limited scalability.

Indoor photovoltaic (IPV) technology is emerging as a promising solution to this problem. By harvesting energy from indoor lighting or sunlight through windows, IPV enables IoT sensors to operate autonomously and without batteries. This reduces maintenance requirements and environmental impact while enhancing the scalability and sustainability of smart building infrastructures.

This themed collection, “Next-Generation Materials and Devices for Indoor Photovoltaic Energy Harvesting”, will bring together recent advances in this area. It will cover the development of organic, hybrid and inorganic materials, the characterisation and optimisation of their structure-property-performance relationships, strategies for device integration, advanced characterisation techniques and key aspects of sustainability.

Please note that this open call is open to primary research submissions only.

Submissions to the journal should fit within the scope of Journal of Materials Chemistry C – Please see the journal’s website for more information on the journal’s scope, standards, article types and author guidelines. All manuscripts will undergo the normal initial assessment and peer review processes, if appropriate, in line with the journal’s high standards, managed by the journal editors. Accepted manuscripts will be added to the online collection as soon as they are published and will feature in a regular issue of the relevant journal. Please note that peer review or acceptance is not guaranteed.

If you would like to contribute to this themed collection, please submit your article directly through the journal submissions platform. Please mention that your submission is a contribution to the Next-Generation Materials and Devices for Indoor Photovoltaic Energy Harvesting collection in the “Themed issues” section of the submission form and is in response to the Open Call. The Editorial Office reserves the right to check the suitability of submissions in relation to the scope of both the journal and the collection, and as such, inclusion of accepted articles in the final themed collection is not guaranteed.

If you have any questions about the collection or the submissions process, please contact the editorial office and they will assist you.