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  • Tech - News
  • Updated: July 21, 2022

Researchers Create Windows-Sized Transparent Solar Panels

Researchers Create Windows-Sized Transparent Solar Panels

Xinjing Huang, a PhD student in applied physics, demonstrates the semi-transparent view through the solar cell. The new manufacturing process could enable meter-scale electricity-producing wi

Researchers at the University of Michigan have discovered a new method for creating photovoltaic solar panels that yet permit light to pass through them and can be used as home windows.

As they may be installed in offices, residences, factories, and other buildings, these transparent solar cells have the potential to usher in a new era of energy.

Transparent solar cells may produce clean, green energy while taking up little space by simply replacing windows.

Scientists have created organic solar cells using a novel technique that is easily scalable for large production.

"In principle, we can now scale semitransparent organic solar cells to two meters by two meters, which brings our windows much closer to reality," said Stephen Forrest, Professor of Electrical Engineering and the author of the study published in the journal Joule.

Since silicon constitutes the vast bulk of solar cells used today, the panel is entirely opaque.

Even though organic solar cells are less efficient and have a shorter lifespan than silicon photovoltaic panels, current development and research into them have slowed.

This is in contrast to the recent uptick in silicon photovoltaic cell development and research.

With a record efficiency of 10% and a 30-year lifespan, Forrest's team of researchers has created solar cells.

The biggest barrier to the widespread use of organic solar cells has been the inability of their manufacturers to scale up until recently.

Since they would readily harm the plastic light absorbers, the lasers used to etch the micron-scale electrical connections in silicon scales could not be utilised on organic cells.

Instead, Forrest's team created a multistep peel-off patterning technique that could still create connections at the nanoscale.

The organic and metal layers were separated by thin strips of patterned plastic, which were later peeled off to form incredibly tiny electrical connections between the cells.

The new manufacturing process could enable meter-scale electricity-producing windows. Top: Schematic illustration of the peel-off patterning procedure. Bottom left: Microscopic image of the light-absorbing semiconductor film on a glass substrate, patterned by peeling off a 10 μm wide polyimide (PI) strip. Bottom right: Photo of the prototype module. Photo Credit: Xinjing Huang, Optoelectronic Components and Materials Group, University of Michigan.

The panels are suited for commercial use because they have a greenish hue and approximately 50% transparency.

The newly established method can also be used to create technology that will make solar cells even more transparent for residential usage.

"The research we are doing is derisking the technology so that manufacturers can make the investments needed to enter large-scale production," Forrest said.

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