This is definitely something that has been an area of active research. One example of this is to use multi-junction solar cells in which multiple material layers are used to capture different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum.

The field of solar cell research is a huge area. Improving solar panel efficiency is a materials challenge, an engineering challenge, and a device challenge.

Currently, an exciting area of research is in the materials system known as halide perovskites. Halide perovskites have generated a lot of attention because of their simple growth process and ability to achieve sizeable efficiencies with little optimization.

A big challenge with this materials system is that they degrade quickly with time and often contain highly toxic elements.

​Exploration of materials systems (both organic and inorganic) is a huge area in solar cell research​, but is only the beginning of the story. For it to be a marketable product, it needs to be integrated into a device and easily maintained, both areas for which study is ripe.