Recently developed, highly transparent solar cells might set a new trend in green building

Jul 21, 2012 08:13 GMT  ·  By

Not long ago, we reported on how scientists working with the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) developed a way of harvesting infrared light for the purpose of producing electricity from solar power with maximum efficiency.

It now seems that further steps are taken down that road.

The journal ACS Nano recently published the findings of a study arguing that it is possible for future windows to generate electricity by means of solar cells, while at the same time not obscuring the view of those wishing to take some time and look at the world.

Thus, a team of specialists from UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) explains that, after intensive research, they managed to design and manufacture a new type of polymer solar cells, using a photoactive plastic as a starting point.

Apparently, these solar cells use infrared light in order to generate power, and are as much as 70% transparent to the human eye.

It is not difficult to guess that this opens up a lot of new opportunities in terms of going green construction wise, as systems used to harvest solar energy will no longer be limited to rooftops and the like.

Moreover, it seems that these new solar cells are both easy to handle (they are neither heavy, nor rigid), and – most importantly – not expensive to manufacture.

UCLA official website quotes Yang Yang, one of the specialists in charge of this study, who apparently wanted to make it as clear as possible that “Our new PSCs are made from plastic-like materials and are lightweight and flexible. More importantly, they can be produces in high volume at low cost.”

He further goes on to add, “These results open the potential for visibly transparent polymer solar cells as add-on components of portable electronics, smart windows and building-integrated photovoltaics and in other applications.”

It is our belief that this new technology, once implemented, will indeed help us in cutting down on our dependence on energy sources which are proven to cause pollution.