New Energy Technologies enhances solar harvesting glass

Sara Ver-Bruggen - 15 Mar 2011

US-based renewable energy firm New Energy Technologies has redesigned its organic solar cells on glass to enhance power output of its SolarWindow technology.

The company licenses technology developed at the University of South Florida, by Xiaomei Jiang and her team, through its subsidiary New Energy Solar. The researchers have improved the transparency of working SolarWindow prototypes by substituting metal contacts, which collect the electricity generated by the active organic electronic layers, with transparent, environmentally friendly compounds.

Now the research team has succeeded in increasing the active area of the cells, through redesigning structures, to enhance power output.

Sizes

In just under two years New Energy Technologies has proven its SolarWindow technology on 2.5cm², then 10cm², and most recently 30.5cm² substrates. The next dimension is 1.2m², for residential glazing applications, and eventually 3m² glass panels for building envelopes.

Only by close proximity to the SolarWindow can the network of tiny organic solar cells be discerned. It is the technology's ability to produce almost transparent tinted glass that architects, designers and potential partners in the architectural glass industry find aesthetically appealing, according to John Conklin. Decorative glass applications are also being explored, adds Conklin, who has been CEO at the company since 2010.

Strategy

He states: 'To commercialise the technology we¹ll evaluate incubator space, and explore the possibility of working with industrial partners in commercial, structural, and architectural glass and glazing supply chains, to integrate the SolarWindow processing technology into their manufacturing operations.'

In contrast to crystal silicon, thin-film, and some of the other emerging organic solar cell technologies, the SolarWindow product can be fabricated using room-temperature spray coating techniques, instead of more complex processing in vacuum chambers at high temperatures.

In peer-reviewed studies, early SolarWindow prototypes achieved almost two-fold greater output power density than crystal silicon and 10 times greater output power density than flexible thin-film amorphous-silicon.

Unlike crystal silicon modules, which achieve high efficiencies over a relatively small surface area, technologies such as SolarWindow are able to generate sufficient electricity over large surface areas, when integrated into building envelope materials like glass.

Integrating solar fabrication into glass manufacturing processes can also reduce the dollar per watt cost of photovoltaic energy generation, helping solar to compete with more conventional and cheaper sources of electricity.

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