Highly Transparent Solar Cells for Windows That Generate Electricity

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/07/120720135715.htm

ScienceDaily (July 20, 2012) — 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.