UCLA
researchers have developed a new transparent solar cell that is an
advance toward giving windows in homes and other buildings the ability
to generate electricity while still allowing people to see outside.
Their study appears in the journal ACS Nano.
The
UCLA team describes a new kind of polymer solar cell (PSC) that
produces energy by absorbing mainly infrared light, not visible light,
making the cells nearly 70% transparent to the human eye. They made the
device from a photoactive plastic that converts infrared light into an
electrical current.
"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," said study
leader Yang Yang, a UCLA professor of materials science and
engineering, who also is director of the Nano Renewable Energy Center at
California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI).
Yang
added that there has been intense world-wide interest in so-called
polymer solar cells. "Our new PSCs are made from plastic-like materials
and are lightweight and flexible," he said. "More importantly, they can
be produced in high volume at low cost."
(Read more..UCLA researchers create highly transparent solar cells for windows that generate electricity)
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