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Semi-Transparent, Color Photovoltaics Could Enable Energy-Harvesting Billboards

Researchers at the University of Michigan College of Engineering have invented colorful, see-through solar cells that enable 'stained' glass windows and even shade that makes electricity. Engineer Jay Guo, who devised the cells, says they have the potential to vastly broaden the use of the energy source. They are made with a technique that borrows from conventional inorganic solar cells and more up-and-coming organic cells. Their color is not derived from dyes, but rather from adjusting the thickness of their semiconductor layer to reflect certain wavelengths of light. "Today, solar panels are black and the only place you can put them on a building is the rooftop," says Guo. He envisions them on the sides of buildings, as energy-harvesting billboards and as window shades. "We think we can make solar panels more beautiful - any color a designer wants. And we can vastly deploy these panels, even indoors."

Topics:
Electronics & Computers Energy Energy Efficiency Energy Harvesting Green Design & Manufacturing Materials Metals Optics Photonics Power Renewable Energy Semiconductors & ICs Solar Power

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    Transcript

    00:00:00 Solar energy is the only energy source that we can rely on to survive in the future. We would like to maximize the utilization of solar energy so what we have achieved here is colored solar cells you know the red stripes the blue background they are actually working solar cells. You want this material semiconductor material to absorb all the light and that's why the traditional solar panel they look black. They probably can only be installed on the rooftop because nobody's going to put these black panels on the side of the building or windows.

    00:00:32 The rooftop area is very limited, however they are huge amount of surface area on the side of the building not only the exterior but also be interior of a building. There are ambient light that we can harvest. You want a structure to be able to absorb this light but also as a decorative item. (sounds of lab) What differentiates our work from work in other labs around the world most of us Connor solar cells that produce color is because the material itself that is used in building the solar cell they are colored but the color will be depending on

    00:01:09 your viewing angle. So depending on whether you look at from the front or the sideway the color changes yeah for this type other decorative solar panel we wanted the color to be independent of your viewing angle so here we actually borrowed a new concept and that it has to do with very thin light absorbing semiconductor on top of a metal and that produce a special optical effect that allows us to make the solar panels that whose color doesn't change.

    00:01:40 In our solar cell we actually go one step further we have two different versions one is semi-transparent and it can be made in different colors as well and the other one is purely a reflective so you can make it into a picture you know for example we made a nice U of M logo. There is a trade-off between the multi-functionality the solar cell have versus, you know, the highest efficiency one can achieve. The black solar cells absorb the whole spectrum. A colored solar cell for example it absorbs one-third of the light right I'm passing the other light that I means that

    00:02:16 the solar cell efficiency maximum will be one-third of a black solar panel can produce but on the other hand by making this multifunctional I hope that it can expand the scope of applications rather than just the rooftop in a modern home we want a lot of things to be a beautiful by why not make it was on multifunctional, not only a decorative item but can also produce electric power. (V.O,) In a quantum computer we don't have bits of information we have something called a quantum bit and a quantum bit also takes on the value of

    00:02:50 0 or 1 but it can also take on and this is a little complicated...