News & Views
All that natural light flowing through your windows may one day do much more than brighten your mood.
Scientists in Switzerland have reached a new efficiency record for transparent solar cells, paving the way for electricity-generating windows that could help power our homes and devices.
Also known as Grätzel cells, dye-sensitised solar cells (DSCs) are a type of low-cost solar cell that uses photosensitised dye attached to the surface of a semiconductor to convert visible light into energy.
"Our findings pave the way for facile access to high-performance DSCs and offer promising prospects for applications as power supply and battery replacement for low-power electronic devices that use ambient light as their energy source," wrote the authors of the study, published in the scientific journal Nature.
See-through solar tech with 30% efficiency
But despite the fact that energy-generating windows have been on the market for a number of years, one recurring complaint was their limited capacity for generating electricity when compared to traditional solar cells.
The new breakthrough from the team at EPFL could soon help overcome that barrier.
Thanks to a new molecule design, they have increased the power conversion efficiency of DSCs - in other words, the share of the solar energy shining on them that is converted into usable electricity - reaching beyond 15 per cent in direct sunlight and up to 30 per cent in ambient light conditions.
For reference, commercial solar panels currently have an average efficiency of around 20 per cent.
The new generation DSCs also demonstrated "long-term operational stability" of at least 500 hours.
Materials that convert sunlight into electrical energy have a huge potential to fulfil the planet’s increasing need for cost-effective renewable energy technologies.
Most of the planet’s solar energy currently goes uncaptured. What would things look like if every window around us could harvest it?
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