This Genius New Type of Solar Energy Cell Can Be Used in Windows

 Engineers have developed a semi-transparent photovoltaic cell that provides a viable level of efficiency, and it'd get us closer to a future where windows that double up as solar panels could transform both architecture and energy production.

Two square meters (around 22 square feet) of the next-gen perovskite solar cells (PSCs) would be enough to come up with about the maximum amount electricity as a regular electrical device, in keeping with the most recent study – within the region of 140 watts per meter, if tinted to the identical degree as current glazed commercial windows.

Solar cell windows are something researchers are functioning on for years, but until now nobody has really hit the sweet spot in terms of efficiency, stability, and value. The team behind the new project says they're closer than ever to doing just that.

"Rooftop solar contains a conversion efficiency of between 15 and 20 percent," says materials chemist Jacek Jasieniak, from Monash University in Australia. "The semi-transparent cells have a conversion efficiency of 17 percent, while still transmitting over 10 percent of the incoming light so that they are right within the zone.

"It's long been a dream to own windows that generate electricity, and now that appears possible."

Central to the work is that the replacement of a key electric cell component (Spiro-OMeTAD to be technical) with a specially developed polymer, supported by an organic semiconductor, which increases overall stability.

That stability is crucial in the material that goes in the sunshine all day. Add the recent efficiency increases in PSCs and you'll see why this growing solar technology is becoming more and more commercially attractive.

However, you will not be able to gaze through a superbly clear window and obtain the utmost amount of energy efficiency from it – there's still a balance to be found between opacity and efficiency.

"There could be a trade-off," says Jasieniak. "The solar cells are made more, or less, transparent. The more transparent they're, the less electricity they generate so becomes something for architects to contemplate."

Even with this major breakthrough, it's going to be a while – maybe the maximum amount as 10 years – before the tech is commercialized and scaled up. The scientists are working with business partners to do and acquire the solar cells included in future building plans.

Multi-story buildings where glazing is already expensive are likely to be the primary beneficiaries, in keeping with the team, because the addition of photovoltaic cell technology won't cost a large amount extra (and remember the electricity savings).

Among the avenues that the researchers are now exploring is combining a layer of perovskite solar cells with a layer of organic solar cells (the more traditional type) to urge the advantages of both.

"These solar cells mean an enormous change to the way we predict about buildings and therefore the way they function," says Jasieniak.

"Up so far every building has been designed on the belief that windows are fundamentally passive. Now they're going to actively produce electricity."