UCLA Researchers Develop Transparent Solar Panels For Windows

UCLA researchers have developed a new kind of solar panel which allows sunlight to pass through it paving the way for advanced windows in homes and buildings which could generate electricity while not blocking the view.

To accomplish this, UCLA researchers have defined a new kind of polymer solar cell (PSC). The specialty of this cell is that unlike standard solar panels which absorb visible light, PSCs mainly operate on infrared light, making the cells nearly 70% transparent to the human eye. A photoactive plastic is then used to convert infrared light into electrical current.

 

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Previous attempts at building transparent solar panels failed due to their low device efficiency. This was due to the poor deployment of suitable polymeric PV materials and efficient transparent conductors required to achieve high visible light transparency. The UCLA researchers from the California NanoSystems Institute, the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science and UCLA’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry circumvented this roadblock by using near-infrared photoactive polymer which absorbs more near-infrared light but is less sensitive to visible light, hence allowing a perfect balance between solar cell performance and transparency in the visible wavelength region.

Another breakthrough was choosing a mixture of silver nanowire and titanium dioxide nanoparticles over the opaque metal electrode used in the past to make the transparent conductor. With such advancement, this research paints a promising and progressive future in the fields of health, energy, the environment and information technology.

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