Produce Electrical Energy by Solar Cells in Transparent Windows

Can you imagine having windows that produce energy and that this technology is not expensive? Scientists has developed thin sheets of polymer solar cells (PSC) A house with windows made of these materials and also with sunroof could dramatically reduce electricity costs.  

What we could sound like science fiction a few years ago, today is a realidad.Hace a couple of years in the Department of Energy (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory were fabricated transparent thin films capable of absorbing light and the generation of electric charge in a relatively large area. The material was described in Chemistry of Materials.  

Researchers already commented that this material could be used for transparent solar panels or windows that absorb solar energy to create these thin luz.En last honeycomb polymers had been used in materials such as polystyrene but this new material combines semiconductors and fullerenes that absorb light as said Mircea Cotlet, physical chemist at Brookhaven Center Nanomateriales.There have been many attempts to demonstrate the effectiveness of PSC visibly transparent or semi transparent. However, these attempts did not result in much visible light transparency of perhaps due low efficiency of the device of polymers or the use of unsuitable materials.

A team of UCLA researchers from the California NanoSystems Institute has described the new material that is capable of producing energy by absorbing infrared light. The team has made ​​this plastic device converts light photoactive infrared eléctricaConsiste current in a semiconducting polymer with carbon fullerene added under controlled conditions. This material is self-assembles to form a reproducible pattern of micron size hexagonal cell in an area of ​​up to several millimeters.

 The director of this study at UCLA engineering professor Yang Yang says: These results open the possibility of polymer solar cells can be visibly transparent complement components of the portable electronic smart windows, as well as photovoltaics in buildings and other applications.

Our new PSC are made of materials like plastic and are very flexible and lightweight, and most importantly, they can be produced in high volumes at low costo.Gracias the team's work at UCLA has a photoactive polymer solar cells transparent absorbs more infrared light but is less sensitive to light advances visible.Otro incorporated into these polymer sheets are transparent conductors made ​​of a mixture of silver nanowires and titanium dioxide nanoparticles that is capable of replacing the old opaque metal electrode was used in the past. Thanks to this new electrode solar cells can be manufactured economically. Paul S. Weiss CNSI director and Fred Kavli Chair in Nanosystems Sciences comment:

     We are very pleased with this new invention and the transparency of solar cells applied to our recent advances in the performance of windows for the manufacture of these devices.




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