Record-breaking transparent solar panels pave way for electricity-generating windows

[Zeedox]

Record-breaking transparent solar panels pave way for electricity-generating windows

Groundbreaking solar cells could be used in windows, greenhouses and glass facades, as well as in the screens of portable electronic devices

www.independent.co.uk

Scientists have achieved a new efficiency record for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs), opening up new commercial possibilities for transparent solar panels.

A team from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland made the breakthrough using specially designed photosensitizer dye molecules that when combined are capable of harvesting light from across the entire visible light spectrum.

The transparent properties of DSCs make them suitable for use in windows, greenhouses and glass facades, the researchers said, as well as in the screens of portable electronic devices.

They are also flexible, relatively low-cost and can be made using conventional roll-printing techniques. Theoretically, the price/performance ratio is also good enough to allow them to compete with fossil fuel electrical generation.

Hydroxamic acid preadsorption raises efficiency of cosensitized solar cells - Nature

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) convert light into electricity using photosensitizers adsorbed on the surface of nanocrystalline mesoporous titanium dioxide (TiO2) films along with electrolytes or solid charge-transport materials1-3. They possess many features including transparency...

www.nature.com

 

[Gomez Adams]

Big oil will buy it and shelve it. It'll never see the light of day.