Cover story: Xiao TX, Tu S, Liang SZ, Guo RJ, Tian T et al. Solar cell-based hybrid energy harvesters towards sustainability. Opto-Electron Sci 2, 230011 (2023).

The energy crisis is one of the most critical issues faced by human beings. The transition towards sustainable and renewable energies is a key contributing factor to solving this problem. Solar energy, owing to its environmentally friendly characteristics and massive reserves, attracted worldwide attention. The concept of hybrid energy harvesters (HEHs) came into being with the demand for breaking the limits of weather conditions in terms of solar energy utilization. By integrating various energy harvesting methods with solar cells, more effective and reliable energy harvesters have been successfully fabricated in recent years. In this review, researchers introduce four types of energy harvesters with different working mechanisms: solar cells, triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs), piezoelectric nanogenerators (PENGs), and thermoelectric generators (TEGs), and explore the possible structures and designs of solar cell-based hybrid energy harvesters (SCHEHs), followed by the recent advancements of SCHEHs. In addition, challenges faced in hybrid systems development and future research directions of SCHEHs are addressed. Overall, SCHEHs have great potential to boost the efficiency of sustainable energy conversion and improve the versatility of energy harvesting systems.