Greentech Lead America: New Energy Technologies, a developer of see-through solar cells for generating electricity on glass windows, has achieved new performance benchmark for its solar cells.
The new solar cells have achieved faster fabrication time, improved transparency, and a two-fold increase in power conversion efficiency.
Specifically, these performance improvements result from spray advancements which control fabrication of various layers of coatings on glass; collectively, these layers make up the architecture of SolarWindow modules. Among other functions, the various layers allow the glass to absorb the sun’s energy, generate electricity, and direct the electricity for collection and use.
The patent pending technology enables fabrication of large-scale mini-module SolarWindow devices, important to commercial deployment of the world’s first-of-its-kind glass window capable of generating electricity, the company said.
Generating electricity on glass windows is possible when New Energy researchers spray ultra-small, see-through solar cells on to glass surfaces.
These novel spray-on techniques have been pioneered, advanced, and unveiled in operating prototypes by scientists who initiated early research efforts with New Energy Technologies under a Sponsored Research Agreement at the University of South Florida (USF).
The Company’s SolarWindow technology has since progressed significantly beyond early research, and is now in advanced product development.
Meanwhile, today’s announcement is the outcome of spray-related improvements achieved during the completion phase of New Energy’s early Sponsored Research at USF, led by Dr. Xiaomei Jiang.
The latest spray-on techniques have successfully boosted power conversion efficiency of each individual cell by two-fold compared to previous fabrication methods, leading to overall power output improvement of SolarWindow; reduced fabrication time from several days down to only a few hours, or 1/6th of the time normally required; improved the transparency or ‘visual light transmission’ of SolarWindow modules, creating a widow ‘tint’ effect; and achieved an aesthetically attractive, uniform coating on to glass.
Researchers are hopeful that today’s breakthrough in mini-module spray-on device fabrication leads to improved spray-on techniques for large-scale devices, a precursor to the Company’s product for commercial launch.
Currently under development for eventual commercial deployment in the estimated 85 million commercial buildings and homes in America, SolarWindow technology is the subject of fourteen (14) patent filings and is the world’s first-of-its-kind technology capable of generating electricity on see-through glass windows, the company said.
SolarWindow is a ‘building integrated photovoltaic’ (BIPV) technology. BIPV products are expected to achieve compound annualized growth of 41 percent-plus through 2016, according to Pike Research.