Scientists have developed a translucent solar cell that provides a sustainable level of efficiency and brings us closer to a future where solar panels can transform both architecture and energy production.
According to a recent study, two square meters of next-generation perovskite solar cells will be enough to generate roughly the same amount of electricity as standard solar panels at around 140 watts per meter.
Researchers have been working on solar-powered windows for years, but so far no one has paid attention to efficiency, stability, and cost. The team behind the new project says they are as close as ever to it.
“The solar energy conversion efficiency on the roof is between 15 and 20 percent,” says chemist Jacek Jaseniak of Monash University in Australia. 'Semi-transparent cells have a conversion efficiency of 17 percent while allowing more than 10 percent of incoming light to pass through.
“It's a long-standing dream – windows that generate electricity, and now it looks possible.”
Central to the work is replacing a key solar cell component, silicon, with a specially developed organic semiconductor polymer that improves overall stability.
However, you won't be able to look through a perfectly clear window and get maximum energy efficiency from it – there is still a balance between transparency and efficiency.
“There is a compromise here,” Yasenyak says. 'Solar cells can be made more or less transparent. The more transparent they are, the less electricity they generate, so architects need to take that into account. '
Even with this important step forward, it may take some time – maybe as much as 10 years – before the technology can be commercialized and expanded.
High-rise buildings in which glazing is already expensive are likely to be the first beneficiaries, scientists said, since the introduction of solar technology does not require huge additional costs (and do not forget about energy savings).
The research was published in Nano Energy.
