Windows Could Be the Next Power Source

EnSol AS in collaboration with University of Leicester and an international team of scientists and industrialists will meet for the development of a new revolutionary technology that supplies electrical power.

This new thin film solar cell technology should be developed commercially by 2016, but for now, the company is working with experts from the University of Leicester Department of Physics and Astronomy to develop this type of solar cell so that it can be coated as a thin film on windows in buildings, and produce large scale power.

Meetings at the University are taking place today and tomorrow, so that the collaboration between the Norwegian company and the British University can be officially launched.

Professor Chris Binns, Professor of Nanotechnology at the University of Leicester said that this collaboration is an enormous opportunity for the development of a new method of obtaining solar energy:

“The material has been designed by EnSol AS and is based on nanoparticles that can be synthesized in Leicester. In fact, following some initial investment by the company, the equipment we have here at the University of Leicester is uniquely suited in the world to produce small amounts of the material for prototypes."

“The work is important since the solar cells are based on a new operating principle and different to Si solar cells. One of the key advantages is that it is a transparent thin film that can be coated onto window glass so that windows in buildings can also become power generators.

“Obviously some light has to be absorbed in order to generate power but the windows would just have a slight tinting (though a transmission of only 8-10% is common place for windows in the “sun belt” areas of the world).

“Conversely the structural material of the building can also be coated with a higher degree of absorption. This could be side panels of the building itself, or even in the form of “clip-together” solar roof tiles.”

This technology could prove much cheaper than conventional devices, as it is a thin film that can be applied to large areas, and these photovoltaic cells will also boost the low carbon economy.

The material is made out of metal nanoparticles with a diameter of nearly 10 nm, fixed inside a transparent composite matrix.