Transparent Solar Panels
Will Turn Windows Into
Green Energy Collectors
R
esearchers from Michigan
State University developed
completely transparent
solar panels, which can
have numerous applications
in architecture, and other fields like
mobile electronics or the automotive
industry.
the contour of the panel, where it is
converted to electricity with the help
of thin strips of photovoltaic solar
cells.”
Further research has been funded by
the Center for Excitonics, an Energy
Frontier Research Center financed by
the Department of Energy. Currently
the team is working on improving
the energy-producing efficiency, that
is of 1 % at the moment. The aim is
to reach an efficiency beyond 5%.
As aforementioned, if developments
work, applications would be countless.
Since the vertical footprint is bigger
than the rooftop one, especially in
glass towers, these devices could
make the most out of the buildings’
Researchers have tried to create such facades. They would not affect the
a device before as well, but the final architectural design but will represent
results were never satisfying.
a far more efficient technology. Yet, Source: www.arch2o.com
they can also be integrated into old
The team focused on the see-through buildings as well.
factor, so they developed a transparent
luminescent solar concentrator, or
TLSC, which can be placed over a
clear surface like a window. It can
harvest solar energy without affecting
the transmittance of light.
The technology uses organic
molecules which absorb light
wavelengths which are not visible
to the human eye, such as infrared
and ultraviolet light. Richard Lunt,
assistant professor of chemical
engineering and materials science at
MSU’s College of Engineering, says:
“We can tune these materials to pick
up just the ultraviolet and the near
infrared wavelengths that then ‘glow’
at another wavelength in the infrared.
The captured light is transported to
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WINTER GARDEN MAGAZINE
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MARCH 2019